Jeff Flock, CNN’s Chicago bureau chief since 1985, is leaving CNN, according to a memo he sent to colleagues Wednesday.
His departure comes on the heels of a major reorganization in CNN’s newsgathering structure that absorbs all of the network’s U.S. bureaus into larger regional bureaus. The Chicago bureau will be part of a Midwest bureau, which will be run by Edith Chapin, currently the deputy New York bureau chief.
Flock could not be reached for comment Wednesday, although he supported the reorganization in his memo.
He was one of CNN’s first employees, having joined the network in the spring of 1980. He has seen it grow from the upstart “chicken noodle news network,” as it was derisively called in the 1980s, to a worldwide newsgathering operation.
A CNN spokesman said the network is sorry to see Flock go and wishes him the best of luck.