Chris Licht is out as chairman and chief executive of CNN, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC on Wednesday, drawing a close to a rocky tenure that drew national media attention — including a lengthy profile in The Atlantic — and raised questions about the future of the cable news brand.
Licht, who rose through the media industry ranks as a television producer, took the reins at CNN in February 2022 after the abrupt resignation of Jeff Zucker, who stepped down because he had failed to disclose a consensual relationship with a colleague.
In short order, Licht sought to differentiate himself from Zucker, who had publicly clashed with former President Donald Trump. Licht, reportedly following a mandate from Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav, attempted to move the news brand to the political center and make it more palatable to both conservative viewers and GOP newsmakers.
He also rolled out a new morning program co-anchored by Don Lemon, who was fired in April after Variety published an article detailing allegations that he had mistreated female colleagues. Lemon, who also faced backlash for on-air comments suggesting GOP presidential contender Nikki Haley was not “in her prime” because she is in her 50s, denied the allegations.
April 24, 202300:15
Licht drew intense scrutiny in recent months as CNN primetime ratings dipped and the new morning show flailed. He found himself where few news executives wish to be: the center of the story.
He was harshly criticized by pundits for hosting a live town hall event with Trump on May 10. In response, commentators faulted Licht for having given the Republican frontrunner a platform to make baseless claims about 2020 voter fraud and other issues in front of an enthusiastic crowd. The New York Times headline: “Trump’s Falsehoods and Bluster Overtake CNN Town Hall.”
The veteran CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour publicly rebuked the network’s decision during a commencement address at Columbia University the week after the town hall aired, noting that she had “a very robust exchange of views” with Licht. Licht is said to have stood by his decision, reportedly saying in part: “America was served very well by what we did last night.”
The negative assessments reached a fever pitch on June 2 after The Atlantic published a 15,000-word article titled “Inside the Meltdown at CNN.” Tim Alberta, a reporter who had shadowed Licht for months (including during a personal training session), detailed the executive’s fixation on his own press coverage and quoted him mocking CNN journalists’ coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Every move he made, big programming decisions and small tactical maneuvers alike, seemed to backfire. By most metrics, the network under Licht’s leadership had reached its historic nadir,” Alberta wrote.
The Atlantic article circulated widely on social media in the days that followed, and high-profile media observers — including Brian Stelter, a former CNN journalist who was fired last year — publicly speculated that Licht might not be long for the job.
Licht apologized to staff members on an internal conference call the Monday after the article ran, CNBC reported, citing people familiar with the matter. He told employees that he did not recognize the person depicted in Alberta’s article.
Licht came to CNN from CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where he served as executive producer and showrunner. He was previously known for having launched MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and overseeing the successful revamp of “CBS This Morning” — career experiences that burnished his reputation as a wunderkind television producer.
He began his career at the KNBC station in Los Angeles, roughly around the time the O.J. Simpson murder trial dominated national attention. (KNBC is one of the 12 local media channels owned and operated by NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
