Well, that didn’t take long.
A mere 13 months after Chris Licht replaced Jeff Zucker at CNN, Discovery CEO David Zaslav confirmed that Licht is moving on from the failing company.
In the 13 months that Licht ran the company, he addressed many things, including shaking up the on air talent, reshuffling programming lineups, and attempting to return the far-left news channel back to a more every, centrist position.
Unfortunately for Licht, it wasn’t enough. Conservatives are simply NEVER coming back to CNN, and liberals were upset by he changes and started changing the channel. Couple that with a decided lack of star power on the network, and Licht was bailing a sinking ship with a Dixie cup.
TRUST: CNN paid a research firm to find out why its ratings are tanking. The researchers found CNN's viewers stopped trusting the network because of the network's left-wing bias and histrionic Covid reporting. The network brought in Chris Licht to bring integrity back to CNN -… pic.twitter.com/THpAwdnbiz
— @amuse (@amuse) June 7, 2023
Here is a brief rundown of what took place during his tenure with the company:
Licht replaced Jeff Zucker 13 months ago with a short-lived run that included lineup reshuffles, internal leaks, viewership declines, talent firings, and a damning Atlantic profile.
The network also lacked a face of the company, as Chris Cuomo was dismissed months before Licht’s arrival.
Programming changes under Licht included demoting Don Lemon from primetime to a morning show, then firing him earlier this year. Firing Brian Stelter. Hiring Gayle King and Charles Barkley for a planned weekly show (the future of this project is unclear). And recently elevating Kaitlan Collins to primetime.
While much of that was a step in the right direction to regain CNN’s relevance, ultimately it still wasn’t enough, as the network still continues to bleed cash and viewers.
So, who takes over from here? Who would even want the job?
As for his replacement, Zaslav says the CEO search “will take months, because I think it’s important that things settle down, and we’ve gotta get it right. We [will] find a great leader, from inside or outside, and off we go.”
In the meantime, CNN talent chief Amy Entelis will steer what Zaslav calls an “acting leadership team” along with editorial chief Virginia Moseley and programming chief Eric Sherling.
To say those folks have their work cut out for them would be a gross exagerration.
CNN is light years past being a legitimate news network, no less the cable tv powerhouse it once was. Most conservatives still view the network as simply an arm of the Democrat party, and will never come back, not even to witness the spectacle of Charles Barkley.
It will be a daunting task for whoever leads the network. Taking a hard left back to what they were is also not an option, as that would be an admission of failure and would validate that they indeed can’t be trusted to tell the truth.
In the end, and for CNN it is coming, the once mighty network will simply be remembered for being “fake news.” It is very difficult to feel sorry for anyone involved, because in terms of fake news, they brought it on themselves. At least we no longer have to see Stelter and Lemon, and that’s a win for everyone.
"*" indicates required fields
