CNN Boss Who Tried to Return Network to Its Former Luster Fired After Only a Year
Chris Licht is out as head of CNN after only a year on the job. Fired. Booted. As in, “See ya’ in the unemployment line, Don Lemon.”
Licht’s efforts to return the network to its respected roots of serious journalism ran head long into staff and stars that wanted no part of it. The most obvious example being the outrage and downright mutiny over Licht’s airing of a town hall with former President Donald Trump.
The broadcast earned CNN the highest ratings it had in years — some 3.3 million viewers — but infuriated staffers upset that it gave a platform, even briefly, to Trump. That is, to the leading contender for the Republican nomination. CNN’s media critic Oliver Darcy led the public complaining about the town hall, which earned a reprimand from Licht for “emotional” reporting. CNN golden boy Anderson Cooper actually apologized for the Trump town hall to CNN viewers … the few that still exist.
Terrible Ratings, Little Trust
Which gets to another reason Licht was shown the door. The ratings for the network are still in the toilet. Yes, they did get a little bump after Fox News dropped Tucker Carlson, but the numbers are still dismal.
Take Friday, May 12. According to Mediate, CNN averaged 335,000 total viewers between 8 and 11 o’clock. That was lower than Newsmax’s prime time numbers. Over all this year, CNN has been at ten-year lows in viewership.
(Not for nothing, episode one of Tucker on Twitter released last night has racked up 67 million views as of 10 a.m. eastern.)
Also, Licht’s efforts to move the network’s journalistic needle back towards the CNN of its glory years, and regain viewers’ trust, just weren’t working. According to a YouGov survey out in April, only 13% think of CNN as “very trustworthy.” A Statica survey done before Licht’s hiring showed 20% of Americans placed “a lot” of trust in CNN. (Thank you, Federalist for that bit of info.)
COVID and The Atlantic and “Losing the Room”
Licht’s fate seems to have been sealed by an Atlantic piece out last week that detailed his turbulent first year at the network. “Inside the Meltdown at CNN” is a detailed 16,000-word insider look at the chaos and complaints.
For example, the article notes how Licht botched CNN’s effort to revitalize its morning show. Licht demoted Don Lemon from prime time, to a team with Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. Let’s just say Lemon did to mornings what that sandbag did to Joe Biden. A disaster. The condescension, the controversies, the tensions, the insults. Who’s going to forget Lemon declaring Nikki Haley, as a woman, past her prime? Lemon was finally shown the door.
What’s more, Licht waited a year to properly fill Chris Cuomo’s 9 p.m. timeslot. You can’t have a big chunk of prime time up in the air that long. Kaitlan Collins was finally announced as new host … right after coming across dreadfully in the Trump town hall.
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Interestingly, COVID played a part in Licht’s ouster. In The Atlantic piece Licht blamed CNN’s over-the-top COVID coverage as part of the reason viewers lost trust in the network. He said the coverage started out well-meaning, but ended up driven by “ratings.”
Licht apologized for the remarks Monday, but the die was already cast. Here’s the thing. According to The Federalist, an internal study conducted by CNN last year listed the network’s “dire” and “overly dramatic and sensational” reporting as a key cause of viewers’ losing trust. (That and, of course, “liberal bias.”) So Licht was speaking from the data … but the staff apparently was not interested in the facts. Nor Licht’s apology. Darcy wrote in his newsletter:
In the wake of The Atlantic’s explosive story, I’ve spoken with dozens of staffers across the company. There are a wide range of emotions coursing through the halls of CNN. Some staffers are frustrated. Others are angry. Many are sad about the awful state of affairs that has taken hold of an organization they love. There is one near-universal sentiment, however, that has been communicated to me: Licht has lost the room.”
CNN Founder Ted Turner “Very Unhappy”
Just hours before Licht’s firing was announced, a biographer of CNN founder Ted Turner revealed that Turner is tormented by the turmoil within CNN. “When I look at CNN today, I cry for Ted Turner,” Porter Bibb told Fox News Digital.
“It’s really tragic that Ted has Lewy Body Syndrome right now and is not 100% capable of stepping in and returning CNN to its heritage,” Bibb said. “But I know he’s really unhappy and very disillusioned.”
Licht tried to restore Turner’s vision. But it was not enough, and clearly CNN stars and staffers were not on board.
What next? Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav told CNN staff Wednesday morning, “We’re in the process of conducting a wide search, internally and externally, for a new leader.”
But will that leader be in the mold of liberal visionary Ted Turner or partisan hatchet man Jeff Zucker?
Stay tuned.
Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.
