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CNN's CEO Chris Licht Is Out After Disastrous Year Failing to Turn Things Around

Elizabeth Allen By Elizabeth Allen
Published June 7, 2023 at 9:19am
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The esteemed halls of CNN are echoing with change once again. Chris Licht, who held the helm as CEO for just over a year, has been shown the exit door, unable to steer the faltering news network back to solid ground.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav addressed the departure, saying, “I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally.”

He acknowledged the herculean task of leading CNN, admitting that Licht had given it his all amidst a period of seismic disruption and transformation.

“While we know we have work to do as we look to identify a new leader,” Zaslav added, “we have absolute confidence in the team we have in place and will continue to fight for CNN and its world-class journalism.”

Licht’s exit follows a short stint at the top, handpicked by Zaslav himself in 2022 to replace the ousted Jeff Zucker amidst a significant merger that brought CNN under Zaslav’s reign.

Yet, now, with Licht out, the fate of Zaslav’s CNN remains shrouded in uncertainty. The interim leadership mantle is expected to be carried by CNN executives Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, and Eric Sherling, joined by recently appointed Chief Operating Officer David Leavy.

There’s been a change in the air at CNN for some time. Leavy, a trusted Zaslav ally, stepping into the COO role was a clear sign of the changing tides. Insiders confided to Fox News Digital that Licht’s departure seemed imminent, with the network’s morale at an all-time nadir.

Do you think CNN will recover ratings under new leadership?

Licht, previously a key figure on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” was keen to dismantle the spectacle that ran rife during Zucker’s reign. He moved to curb the overuse of breaking news graphics and purged CNN of some left-leaning figures.

He also extended an olive branch to Republican lawmakers who felt sidelined by Zucker’s partisan approach. Unfortunately for Licht, his efforts did not find favor with liberal staff members who were nostalgic for the Zucker era’s partisan tone.

Despite navigating a sea of criticism from liberal media pundits and a slew of internal leaks, Licht made some difficult but necessary decisions, including scrapping the financially draining CNN+ streaming service and enforcing company-directed layoffs.

His tenure, however, was not without missteps, many of them self-made. Licht’s reinvention of the network’s morning show, led by left-wing figure Don Lemon, fell flat amidst its melodramatic presentation rather than its actual coverage.

Also, the 9 p.m. primetime slot remained vacant throughout 2022 after the firing of Chris Cuomo, until Licht finally settled on Kaitlan Collins, but by then, his own departure was in the offing.

CNN’s ratings under Licht left much to be desired, with the CEO regularly taking heat for what many saw as merely reshuffling existing anchors. A memorable misstep was the highly contentious town hall event with former President Trump, during which the crowd, comprised of fervent Trump supporters, cheered him on. Liberals fumed at Licht for giving Trump a platform to voice opinions they found repugnant.

CNN’s own media reporter Oliver Darcy joined the liberal onslaught, stating in his newsletter, “It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening.” Despite Licht admonishing Darcy for his “emotional” reporting, Darcy continued to criticize his boss in subsequent newsletters.

The tipping point may well have been a revealing report by The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, detailing Licht’s turbulent year as CNN’s CEO, painting him as self-assured yet out of touch, narcissistic, and generally disliked.

This report, which quickly became the talk of the media industry, led to a situation so dire that Licht felt compelled to apologize to CNN staffers for becoming a distraction himself.

An insider source revealed to Fox News Digital that by the time of his apology, CNN’s anchors had already resigned themselves to Licht’s impending exit, seeing no way for him to recover from the turbulence.

The news of Licht’s departure was first reported by Puck’s Dylan Byers, a former CNN reporter who has been chronicling Licht’s issues for months.

Licht, at the time of writing, has not responded to requests for comment.

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