CNN's Chris Licht Out as CEO

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Facts

  • CNN CEO Chris Licht’s tenure with the news network has ended after just over a year with the company, David Zaslav, the CEO of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, announced in a memo to CNN staff Wednesday morning.1
  • Licht had been under scrutiny for his handling of the network in flux, notably, his mission to make CNN more moderate in its coverage. Backlash severely ramped up from liberal outlets after CNN hosted a town hall for former Pres. Donald Trump in May.2
  • A 15K-word article published in The Atlantic on Friday titled "Inside the Meltdown at CNN" is believed to be the final blow to Licht’s run as CNN’s CEO. The piece quoted several network employees critical of his leadership.3
  • Licht apologized to employees Monday in light of the article, which also claimed that Licht was critical of his predecessor Jeff Zucker and the network's coverage of Trump.4
  • Licht took over for Zucker in May 2022, and his time as CEO has been characterized as tumultuous, plagued by layoffs, dwindling profits, plummeting ratings, the firing of two prominent hosts, and an overall lack of employee morale.5
  • In his memo, Zaslav maintained that he has "enormous respect" for Licht and took responsibility for the failed relationship. Zaslav didn't name a replacement but said that executives Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, and David Leavy would run CNN in the interim.6

Sources: 1CBS, 2FOX News, 3NBC, 4Guardian, 5CNN, and 6CNBC.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by The Atlantic. Chris Licht failed as CEO of CNN because he completely misdiagnosed the landscape of American media and tried to make CNN into a centrist outlet unwilling to oppose Donald Trump’s lies. Licht was also completely oblivious to the workplace environment he created. In over his head and unwilling to make changes, Licht’s demise came from his inability to understand both his employees and the American public.
  • Right narrative, as provided by Breitbart. Left-wing media is trying to scapegoat Chris Licht for CNN’s failure, which has been happening since Donald Trump exposed the network as fake news back in 2015. CNN, and nearly all other mainstream outlets, have lied about Trump and his supporters for years, and that’s why no one trusts them. Licht certainly doesn’t deserve any sympathy, but blaming him for CNN’s problems is disingenuous.