CNN launching ‘Creators’ initiative for digital native storytelling

CNN is launching a new multiplatform venture called CNN Creators, with an eye toward digital.

The initiative will start with a phased launch of a new show on CNN International. The program will initially be known as “CNN Creators: The Intro” and focus letting viewers get to know the team of multiplatform content creators, each with their own unique background, interests, skills and perspective, according to the network. 

This iteration of the show debuts Oct. 23, 2025, at 11:30 a.m. eastern.

Then, starting in early 2026, the show will drop its subtitle and morph into its permanent format. 

It will also become the first show anchored out of the network’s Media City Qatar, in Doha. 

In this rendering provided by CNN, the future home of ‘CNN Creators’ in Qatar is shown. The space appears to be centered around a organic, curved central workspace flanked by other areas such as an on-camera kitchen and tech-heavy edit suite. 

This purpose-built studio is expected to feature custom workspaces, designed to enable “dynamic content creation and collaborative, spontaneous work among the team,” according to the network.

CNN has staffed up this effort as well with what it calls “digital-native storytellers” who will be tasked with exploring the conversations that are “capturing the zeitgeist,” with a focus on AI, tech, art, culture, sports and social trends.

The CNN Creators team in Doha will be led by Andrew Potter, who was a senior editorial producer at Vice.

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He will be joined by Ivana Scatola, a multilingual digital video producer and former BBC and France 24 reporter; Bijan Hosseini, known to CNN International viewers for his work hosting some of the network’s features content across TV and social and Antoinette Radford, another former BBC News journalist, who is part of CNN’s Digital Live News team.

Matias Grez, an award-winning producer and reporter who has worked with CNN Sport in London for more than a decade and Ben Foley, a veteran war photojournalist, whose work has appeared on Seven Network and Network Ten in his native Australia, as well as Al Jazeera, Vice and the New York Times, complete the CNN Creators line-up at launch.

The Creators team, which will all be CNN staffers, will also contribute content across CNN’s various platforms. 

“CNN Creators is unlike any show we have ever launched,” said CNN’s senior vice president of international programming Meara Erdozain, in a statement. “This exciting new digital-forward initiative will reflect how our younger audiences are engaging with stories and will deliver compelling, entertaining content in a multitude of ways. It will focus on news-adjacent topics and stories that feel real, relevant, and relatable. We’ve assembled a fantastic team of digital-native journalists who will be identifying, debating and telling those stories with curiosity, creativity, and collaboration.”

Despite a name that hints at the term “content creators,” CNN does not expect this to be a social or citizen journalism-style effort.

Instead, the name is meant to reflect that its storytelling format and style will reflect the style of today’s social media and digital content creators.

CNN’s announcement did not specifically mention plans for how this initiative may be included in the upcoming launch of its standalone streamer, though it’s not hard to imagine this content appealing to those subscribers.