Did Brian Stelter lose his job because of politics or money?

Under Zaslav/Licht, CNN has already made one significant cut: Killing off CNN+, its brand-new streaming service, weeks after it launched (disclosure: My editor and I are producers on a show Vox Media made for CNN+).

But that may not be anything close to enough to help the parent company hit its numbers. In which case, Stelter’s departure could be the first of many, and we’ll spend less time worrying about CNN’s politics and more time worrying about its ability to provide first-class news coverage.

CNN says both of those theories are wrong: It says Licht got rid of Stelter and Reliable Sources because it wants different programming on Sunday mornings. And CNN spokesman Matt Dornic told me that the news service is under no pressure from its new owner to reduce headcount, noting that Licht has said he wants to hire more journalists.

Then again, there’s certainly a way to reduce costs while adding people: You let go of expensive people and replace them with cheaper ones.