Isha Sesay Exits CNN, Says Western Media Too ‘Trump-Focused’

Former CNN anchor Isha Sesay arrives at a red carpet event. (Credit: Deposit Photos)

CNN anchor and correspondent Isha Sesay has left the cable news giant after 13 years.

Sesay announced her exit this week on Twitter, writing: “It’s really happening, folks!! After more than a decade behind the desk with those three red letters… I HAVE LEFT CNN.”

Her tweet included a link to an article in What We See magazine, where she talked about her career and departure from the company.

Citing the western media’s “obsession with Trump,” the British-born journalist of Sierra Leonean descent said she’d rather spend her time covering other issues.

“It’s all so Trump-focused,” she said. “He sucked all of the oxygen out of the room. The media is following that lead to the exclusion of almost everything else, in a meaningful way.”

Read MoreLeBron James to Don Lemon: No Matter Who You Are, Racists Always Consider You ‘The N-Word’

Sesay, who most recently worked out of CNN’s Los Angeles bureau, said there are other stories she doesn’t feel are getting enough coverage.

“After a while, I want to do more coverage of the Ebola outbreak, of the elections in Liberia, or any number of things that are happening,” she added. “I’m ready to take control of what I’m talking about.”

Sesay said she wants to tell more stories about Africa, in the right context.

“I want to put a focus on Africa in the way I wish all international media would cover Africa,” she explained.

The veteran journalist is currently writing a book scheduled for release in 2019, about the Chibok girls, who were kidnapped in Nigeria by Boko Haram in 2014.

Despite her departure from CNN, Sesay called her experience at the network “amazing.”

“It’s the end of a huge chapter,” she said. “I feel like I grew up working there. I showed up as a 30-year-old in 2005, with two suitcases and a one-year contract — I’ve managed to make that last 13 years! It’s been amazing, I’ve been married when I was there, divorced when I was there, it’s all happened.”