CNN tried out a new look on Friday (March 20) when Jake Tapper hosted The Lead from his actual office, complete with poster-covered walls and an exposed podcast-style microphone.
“We‘re going to try something a little different today. Welcome to my office,” Tapper said at the top of Friday’s show, per The Daily Beast. “We thought we would bring you into the space where me and my team do our actual journalism and plan the show every day. So here we are giving it a shot.”
However, the new look, reminiscent of a typical podcast studio, was met with criticism. YouTuber Keith Edwards told the Status newsletter, “It’s kinda like rearranging furniture in a burning house. It shows they fundamentally don’t understand why audiences are leaving.”
Edwards added that the issues with mainstream media won’t be fixed by its lead anchors sitting behind a “big podcast mic.”
Fellow CNN host Anderson Cooper also appeared in front of an exposed mic on his show Anderson Cooper 360 last week. A CNN insider told Status that the podcasting world has become a “natural environment” for the host; Cooper hosts the All There Is podcast, which includes honest conversations about grief.
So Jake Tapper is now doing his show from his office, further demonstrating the impact of independent media on legacy entities.
Meanwhile, I was waiting for Tapper to journalistically push back on Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy stating Democrats are inhibiting funding… pic.twitter.com/kABLxlNICd
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) March 20, 2026
A former executive told the newsletter that the podcast-look is unlikely to appeal to CNN’s older audience. “I’m not convinced that podcast microphones and behind-the-scenes shots are enough to move the needle,” they said.
Another added that CNN is “a little late to the party” and the move reeks of “desperation” from the network.
However, another executive praised CNN for the attempt, noting, “You experiment and fail, but you’re learning each time.”
The online reaction was similarly mixed, with many mocking CNN’s attempts to shake things up.
“What’s next? Smoking cigarettes during an interview?” wrote one X user.
“Looking forward to @JohnBerman from the bathroom stall,” another quipped.
“I watched Anderson last night found the large mics to be a real distraction. One in front of him and one for each of two guests, sitting relatively close together. Looked kinda silly,” another said.
Another wrote, “That looks like a closet more than it does an office for such a high profile anchor personality.”
“It’s not the format. It’s the content,” said one commenter.
What do you think of CNN’s new look? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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