Top CNN exec resigns after WarnerMedia says probe found she violated company policies
Allison Gollust, the chief marketing officer at CNN, resigned on Tuesday, after WarnerMedia said a third-party investigation determined that she violated company policies.
Earlier this month, her former boss, CNN President Jeff Zucker, resigned as well, after it was revealed he engaged in a "consensual relationship" with his "closest colleague." Zucker said he was "required to disclose it when it began but I didn't," and he was "wrong." It was later reported by CNN Business that his relationship was with Gollust.
In a statement to CBS News, WarnerMedia said the investigation, which started in September, was completed over the weekend. More than 40 people were interviewed and 100,000 texts and emails reviewed, and it was found that Gollust, Zucker, and former Cuomo Prime Time host Chris Cuomo all violated company policies, including CNN's News Standards and Practices. Cuomo was fired in December after it was discovered that he helped his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, craft his defense after being accused of sexual harassment.
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"We have the highest standards of journalistic integrity at CNN, and those rules apply to everyone equally," WarnerMedia said.
Gollust pushed back at WarnerMedia, saying in her own statement that the company is attempting "to retaliate against me and change the media narrative in the wake of their disastrous handling of the last two weeks. It is deeply disappointing that after spending the past nine years defending and upholding CNN's highest standards of journalistic integrity, I would be treated this way as I leave."
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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