CNN Puts Adam Levine Back in Charge of DC Bureau as Philip Rucker Promoted

Less than a month after CNN significantly revamped political coverage by removing senior vice president Adam Levine from his role overseeing its Washington, D.C. bureau and replacing him with Philip Rucker, the network has abruptly reversed course.

On Tuesday, CNN executive editor Virginia Moseley informed staff that Levine has been reinstated as the D.C. newsroom’s day-to-day leader, while Rucker has been promoted to a role overseeing broader domestic news coverage, Oliver Darcy reported Tuesday in his Status newsletter.

According to Darcy, a former media reporter for CNN, Levine will still report to Rucker, the former Washington Post editor CNN hired with much fanfare in January.

Levine was stripped of the role on March 21, when CNN announced it had placed Rucker in charge of all D.C. editorial and management of newsgathering teams. Levine meanwhile was demoted to heading up CNN’s investigative team and running a new “hub desk” in Washington.

In a letter to staff at the time, Moseley gushed that those changes created “a new structure for Washington as we continue to enhance and streamline the Global News operation.”

The about-face comes during a tough time for CNN, which has enacted several rounds of layoffs, including a reported 200 job cuts, or about 6% of its staff, in January, during the same period Rucker was hired.

In January, the network also made several changes to its on-air lineup including giving longtime anchor Jake Tapper a new time slot and effectively forcing Jim Acosta, a frequent target of Donald Trump, out of the network entirely. Network veteran Wolf Blitzer is also being moved from broadcasting in the evening to the mornings.

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