CNN rolls out new ‘Guns in America’ team, podcast for Audie Cornish

CNN announced two new editorial initiatives on Wednesday, including a podcast for recently hired radio broadcaster Audie Cornish and the fleshing out of a team focused on covering guns in the United States.

Cornish, whom the network hired away from NPR to host a show on the since-defunct paid subscriber streaming service CNN+, will debut a new show on CNN Audio dubbed “The Assignment with Audie Cornish” next month.

Cornish’s weekly show will “convene conversations with everyday people at the center of debates that are rocking the culture with topics spanning the arts, education, politics, business, and sports — people living behind the headlines in the very heart of the zeitgeist,” the network said.

Cornish was among the slew of big-name journalism talent the network recruited in the months prior to launching CNN+, which was shut down less than a month after its launch after experiencing sluggish subscription rates.

Also on Wednesday, the network announced the creation of new beat and editorial team it is calling “Guns in America.”

Led by CNN guns and security correspondent Josh Campbell, the new beat will feature reporting and analysis from Reload founder Stephen Gutowski, The Trace’s Jennifer Mascia and Abené Clayton, a reporter on the The Guardian’s “Guns and Lies in America” project.

CNN President Chris Licht earlier this year alluded to the creation of a team focused on covering gun laws, the Second Amendment and mass shootings in the U.S. and around the world.

“CNN is uniquely positioned to foster informed policy discussions in this space and help illuminate possible solutions to America’s epidemic of gun violence,” he wrote in a memo to staff this summer.