CNN’s Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer reportedly denied raises while Chris Wallace asked to take pay cut

CNN’s Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer have been denied raises, while Chris Wallace is likely to be forced to take a pay cut — even as the network’s reporters brace for “inevitable” layoffs, according to a report .

According to the report.

Thompson recently re-signed Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent who anchors “The Lead,” to a new three-year contract that will pay him the same $7 million a year he was making under terms of his previous deal, according to The Ankler. newsletter.

Blitzer, the 76-year-old longtime CNN veteran who hosts “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” has also been re-signed to a new three-year contract that will raise his salary to about $3 million a year — the same much money he had previously earned, the newspaper reported.

“Flat is new,” an agent representing CNN talent told The Ankler when asked about the latest developments.

Another online newsletter, Puck, disputed Ankler’s report, saying it “got nearly all of the salary figures wrong — in some cases egregiously” and that Tapper and Blitzer “make millions more than $7 million and $3 million , respectively”.

But the online newsletter acknowledged that “the broader point about talent being forced to renew at equal or lower prices is true.”

Reached by The Post on Thursday, a CNN spokesman declined to comment.

John Berman, co-anchor of “News Central” alongside Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner, had his contract renewed at the same $1 million a year salary, The Ankler reported.

Puck reported that Berman’s salary “is several hundred thousand north of $1 million.”

Meanwhile, speculation about Wallace’s future at the network is sure to grow given that the 77-year-old former Fox News personality will reportedly have to accept a salary that is significantly less than the $8.5 million he he wins. his current deal, according to The Ankler.

Puck claimed that Wallace’s salary is actually $7 million.

Wallace, who was brought on board by former CNN president Jeff Zucker shortly before the executive was forced to resign over a longstanding relationship with a subordinate, was seen in Thompson’s office on Tuesday, according to The Ankler.

Insiders told the outlet that CNN employees are bracing for a “bloodbath” — or another round of layoffs on top of the hundreds of jobs already cut by Thompson as he continues an overhaul of the once-mighty cable news network. after taking the lead. at the beginning of this year.

“If you’re not getting an offer for a few months, you’re in a precarious place,” a CNN employee told The Ankler. “That anxiety has flowed down and out and across the country.”

According to the report, Thompson is reportedly preparing to either cut the pay of dozens of the network’s national correspondents — who reportedly earn mid-to-high salaries — or eliminate their positions entirely, according to the report.

CNN’s website currently lists 92 people as “reporters and correspondents” on the air.

“Mark has made it known that he doesn’t like the conventional style of TV packages we’re doing,” an employee told the newsletter.. “He wants people who are nervous. He doesn’t want people who look like your traditional anchor, and it turns out that way [edgy] people are freer.”

Thompson is cutting costs due to falling revenue at the network, which has been hit by declining ratings as well as a bloated newsroom function where the digital department and broadcast programming division operate separately despite producing similar work.

According to the report, some on-air correspondents may be asked to do things that are beyond their actual job description.

Journalists may soon be required to write their own scripts and produce their own segments, as well as record footage vertically for TikTok videos, according to The Ankler.

On-air talent may also be tasked with writing stories to be posted on CNN’s digital platform.

“The place needs to be turned upside down,” one employee told the newsletter.

“It’s not working because no one is watching. It needs a radical overhaul.”