CNN Names Former NYT, BBC Exec Thompson as CEO

Facts

• Former New York Times and BBC leader Mark Thompson has been named as CNN's next chairman and CEO, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery announced Wednesday.¹
• Thompson served as CEO and president of the Times from 2012 to 2020 — gaining praise for helping guide the newspaper from a traditional publication to a digital-first organization — and as director-general of the BBC from 2004-2012.²
• CNN is hiring Thompson at a time of great uncertainty as the network fights the industry-wide battle against mass cord-cutting while also falling behind competitors like MSNBC in key metrics, notably the all-important 25-54 demographic.³
• Thompson is CNN’s third CEO since early 2022. Just before a merger with Warner Bros. Discovery changed CNN’s ownership, longtime CEO Jeff Zucker stepped down for failing to disclose a relationship with a high-ranking colleague. He was then replaced by Chris Licht, who was forced out in June.⁴
• The handpicked candidate of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Licht made a series of controversial moves, such as canceling CNN+ — the network’s newly launched streaming platform — and hosting a town hall for former Pres. Donald Trump.⁵
• Thompson will take over on Oct. 9 just as a contentious presidential election season kicks into high gear. It's unclear how much Thompson will prioritize digitization, but CNN has recently added a new live-stream on Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Associated Press, ³CNN, ⁴CNBC, ⁵NBC, and ⁶Variety.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by IndieWire. If anyone can turn CNN around and bring the network to prosperity, it's Mark Thompson. Everywhere he’s gone, Thompson has made his organization better than when he had gotten there, and he has ample experience in bringing legacy media outlets into the digital age. It certainly won’t be an easy task, but Thompson has all the skills and knowledge to revive CNN as a media powerhouse.
• Narrative B, as provided by New York Post. Mark Thompson has little to no chance of restoring CNN after it has spent the last decade desecrating itself as a biased propaganda machine. While he may have all the establishment credentials, it is hard to envision a way he can turn around the disaster that is CNN. Many have failed to help CNN in recent years, and Thompson will likely join the long list of disgraced executives.