CNNs Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer reportedly denied raises while Chris Wallace asked to take pay cut

CNN’s Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer have been denied salary raises while Chris Wallace will likely be forced to take a pay cut — even as rank-and-file journalists at the network brace for “inevitable” layoffs, according to a report.Mark Thompson — the former BBC and New York Times boss who was brought in to overhaul CNN by Warner Bros.Discovery overlord David Zaslav — has told some of his highest paid and most recognizable stars to “take it or leave it,” according to a report.Thompson recently re-signed Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent who anchors “The Lead,” to a new three-year contract that will pay him the same $7 million annually that he had earned under the terms of his previous deal, according to The Ankler newsletter.Blitzer, the 76-year-old longtime CNN veteran who anchors “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” has also been re-signed to a new three-year contract that will freeze his pay at roughly $3 million annually — the same sum of money he had been making before, the newsletter reported.“Flat is the new up,” an agent who represents CNN talent told The Ankler when asked about the latest developments.Another online newsletter, Puck, disuted The Ankler report, saying it “got almost all the salary figures wrong — in some cases egregiously” and that Tapper and Blitzer “make millions more than $7 million and $3 million, respectively.”Reached by The Post on Thursday, a CNN spokesperson declined to comment.John Berman, the co-anchor of “News Central” alongside Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner, had his contract renewed at the same $1 million per year salary, The Ankler reported.Puck reported that Berman’s salary “is a few hundred thousand north of $1 million.” But the online newsletter conceded that “the broader point about talent being forced to renew at equal or lower comps is true.”Meanwhile, speculation about Wallace’s future at the network is sure to ramp up given that the 77-year-old forme...