CNN Hiring Despite Ad Revenue Losses

CNN will increase its workforce this year and invest in its Internet operations.

The cable television news network will scale back investment in technologies rather than fire employees. CNN is hiring 30 workers for its newswire service this year, and plans to recruit more for international news.

CNN, owned by Time Warner, is confronting both the recession and competition from MSNBC, which in March overtook it for the number two spot behind News Corp.’s Fox News in weekday primetime ratings.

CNN’s profit more than doubled in the past four years. It ended 2007 and 2008 with more employees than it started with each year, and plans to do the same in 2009.

The network has about 4,000 employees worldwide.