CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht is out

[The Grand Illuminist]

Source: CNN

New York
CNN
—
CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chris Licht is out, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Licht, whose one-year tenure at the network has been marked by a series of controversies and missteps, departs after a devastating magazine profile that called into question his ability to lead the network’s staff.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/07/media/chris-licht-cnn/index.html

[underpants]

1. Disaster.

[skip fox]

64. ?

[underpants]

78. I meant his time there was a disaster

[peppertree]

73. Like Ron deSaster - but more disastrous

About the only sorry he's leaving, is tea-bag billionaire John Malone.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. Just saw a WaPo breaking

CNN chief executive Chris Licht to leave network after weeks of criticism

By Elahe Izadi, Will Sommer and Jeremy Barr


June 7, 2023 at 9:02 a.m. EDT


Embattled CNN chief executive Chris Licht is out at the cable network, according to a perosn with knowledge of the situation, capping weeks of tumult within the company following a highly-criticized town hall with former president Donald Trump and a scathing article that portrayed the CEO as all but failing at leading the company.

Licht replaced former CEO Jeff Zucker, who was forced to resign in early 2022 as he cited an undisclosed relationship with a fellow executive.

Now Licht is out at the network, less than a week after the Atlantic published a roughly 15,000-word profile, in which Licht gave extensive access to reporter Tim Alberta, that all but declared that the executive’s short tenure has been a failure. The story also quoted Licht criticizing, among other things, CNN’s past coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and disclosed shocking details on his handling of the Trump town hall.

On Monday, Licht apologized to his staff and pledged to work to regain their trust.

This is a breaking story that will be updated.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2023/06/07/chris-licht-leaves-cnn-town-hall-atlantic/

[Cha]

77. Schadenfreude! TY!

[Aviation Pro]

3. Almost equivalent to a tombstone

[YoshidaYui]

19. uhuh

[IronLionZion]

4. Licht is licked

[Ray Bruns]

5. Anyone know how many "Scaramucci's" that was?

[fargone]

10. About 35 give or take

[Aviation Pro]

26. 38

13 month stint.

[Hugin]

37. General practice is to declare a new unit when more than a dozen or so of the minor units...

Have accumulated.

So, we should probably define a "Licht" as around forty "Mooches". That would be somewhere between twelve and thirteen "months" or a "Year" in metric time.

[CaptainTruth]

40. In astronomy, a Licht Year.

[ZonkerHarris]

41. Nice

[Hugin]

42. !

:highfive:

I walked that one out for you. Bam! To the moon, baby!

[BumRushDaShow]

45. DUzy

and you win the Pinocchios prize!!!

[sybylla]

46. LOL! Perfect.

[jaxexpat]

58. ....and thirteen months is long enough to manufacture facts for at least three .....

autobiographical books blaming everyone else. Which makes it a "multi-tome", in Dewey Decimal Time.

But not even close to "Licht year". That's hall of fame stuff there. I bow thoroughly pun-ished.

[moniss]

48. The interim

units between Scaramuccis and Lichts are called Trusses.

[calimary]

68. And he's probably gonna need one.

[moniss]

71. I see what you did there

[ShazzieB]

88. Too much math for me.

But as long as somebody else keeps track, I'm fine with it.

[Hugin]

92. I believe the wonks call that...

Fuzzy math and it is best accomplished with a hat, cane, and some soft shoe.

[EYESORE 9001]

6. Anyone else think CEOs are overpaid and easily replaced

CNN paid Licht far more than he was worth, only to witness one fucking travesty after another. Who on CNN’s board thought this was their guy to be in charge? How did he rise through corporate hierarchy to the top spot? Is incompetence part of the job description?

[edhopper]

9. David Slaslav

owner of Warner Media and the one who wanted CNN to turn Right. Licht was doing what he was told to do.

[EYESORE 9001]

11. Then I hope the owner pays big for his stupidity

and sells to new owners who are actually interested in running a news org. Besides, who is in a position to know how much poor decision-making is attributable to Licht or micromanagement from owner?

[edhopper]

12. From HBO to CNN to DC Comics

Warner Media has made one bad decision after another.

It won't end pretty.

[getagrip_already]

23. Not likely...

As musk proved, being a billionaire means you don't have to worry about losing a few billion if it hurts the libs.

He doesn't need to care about losing money. Even investors won't get anywhere suing him.

[EYESORE 9001]

29. Seems the best way to punish a billionaire

is to see to it that they lose their billionaire status. Sounds good anyway.

[getagrip_already]

34. It's not that easy.....

Let's say he is worth 10 b. He loses 2. He still has more money than he needs to make that 2 back without lifting a finger.

A billion is a very large number. Musk is being paid almost $50b from SpaceX and tesla. Let that sink in.

CNN is chump change to these guys. Losing their investment means nothing.

[EYESORE 9001]

36. I know. It's infuriating if I let it.

[GreenWave]

66. Just tell him he could be the first billionaire on Mars,

put altered music on the capsule

Mars *is* the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it reaches 70 many days a year
and plenty of aliens there to raise them, if you did...

[Celerity]

28. David Zaslav, the RW billionaire John Malone's henchman buddy

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 07: Discovery Communications President and CEO David Zaslav (L) and Liberty Media's John Malone speak onstage during "TV, or Not TV" at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 7, 2015 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)

[slightlv]

67. Well... that explains

what happened to my Science channel... and why it went the way of the History channel!!!!

[calimary]

69. Well, then he should be the one whose head rolls next.

Straight down the hall and OUT the door.

[agingdem]

21. The Peter Principle

[Timewas]

22. This

How did he rise through corporate hierarchy to the top spot?


It's called "the peter principal"

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.investopedia.com%2Fterms%2Fp%2Fpeter-principle.asp&psig=AOvVaw2hbUVBsDSpWJCVBjYnZ9aM&ust=1686232030599000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBAQjRxqFwoTCPjF7YCmsf8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

[krkaufman]

25. He didn't

That Licht was brought in from outside, rather than promoting from within, was one of his early negatives among the workforce.

[edhopper]

7. Will it matter?

It was new owner David Slaslav who is the Trumper and wants CNN to be the new FoxNoise.

[tenderfoot]

14. The more I learn about Zaslav the more disturbed I get

His Commencement speech at BU is one of worst American Enterprise Institute TED talks I've ever heard. He deserved to get booed.

[Mawspam2]

8. Chris Licht - Paste Eater

https://www.grailed.com/listings/24252991-the-simpsons-x-vintage-2003-the-simpsons-ralph-wiggum-paste-eater-tee-shirt

[Happy Hoosier]

13. That Atlantic article was a head shot.

That reporter had best watch his back!

[BComplex]

17. He needs to go after Slaslav next

to call out right wing bullshit every single time there is a chance to do so.

[krkaufman]

32. Why Slaslav?

All spellings I’ve see are “David Zaslav”; why the “Sl” substitution?

[live love laugh]

74. Zaslav refused to go "on the record" with Atlantic.

[infullview]

15. Keith Olbermann will be so happy!

[Paladin]

27. He's not the only one. (nt)

[Dopers_Greed]

16. Good, but they'll probably replace him with someone worse

James O'Keefe perhaps?

Or even Alex Jones?

[getagrip_already]

18. The king is dead... long live the king!

Different old white guy, same message, same plan.

And yes, I'm an old white guy. But I won't be that old white guy.

[FakeNoose]

20. CNN isn't going to tell the whole story

I'm gonna wait until some REAL news articles come out. Chris Licht was hired to do a job and he did it. The destruction of Ted Turner's cable news channel is complete. Now Licht is gone but the real Nazis are still running the company.

[SouthernDem4ever]

31. Good Point

This doesn't mean they are giving up their new claim to fame as "fake news"

[dweller]

24. ETTD

✌🏻

[Roc2020]

30. The damage is done

CNN should mimic the BBC and do hard news all day long on a loop.

[krkaufman]

33. That could be respected.

And wear the lower viewership numbers as a badge of honor, working with some unbiased organization to develop an alternate metric and polling mechanism to strive for the most well-informed audience.

[Raven123]

44. What a relief that would be

[Scrivener7]

38. I'd watch that! Current cable news? Not so much.

[BlueIdaho]

39. Our Democracy really too a hit

When news divisions were absorbed into network entertainment divisions. I’d welcome a return to real news. I’m so sick of Infotainment posing as news.

[BumRushDaShow]

47. They used to have a channel - "CNN Headline News" - that did do that

where it looped on the half hour. Then they changed formats and the name and called it "HLN", transforming it into a fluffy "lifestyle" and "social media" covering channel.

Recently they tried taking HLN back to "news" but I only popped in every once in awhile to see. But just discovered that HLN's attempt at doing news again was gutted once more this past December, and has now become a long-format "crime story" channel.

[SouthernDem4ever]

85. That's how it was when they started the network

Repugs still hated it then too just like they hate all factual media.

[SledDriver]

35. A good start.

TNN has a LOT to make up for before they can ever be considered a legitimate news network again.

I won't get my hopes up. They'll probably replace him with another MAGA cultist, just in time for 2024.

[Bengus81]

43. So now Dems are supposed to RUSH back to CNN?? Not me..........

Screw em.........

[Claustrum]

82. It's funny because they lost republicans because of TFG.

Now they are losing the moderates/democrats too. Who do they think their audience are?

[mchill]

49. John Malone will just want a slightly smarter

Right winger.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

50. Yeah

Link to tweet

[calimary]

70. Looks like he's hugging himself.

And he’ll stand alone in that, for sure. Nobody else will.

And the individual above him on the management tree, who thought he’d be a great hire, should be next to go. Like, this afternoon. I hope they’re not gonna let him pick Licht’s replacement. Once bitten, (SHOULD BE) twice shy.

[ificandream]

51. The Atlantic profile sealed his doom.

If you haven't read it ...

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/06/cnn-ratings-chris-licht-trump/674255/

[SunSeeker]

90. Pay wall. Got another link? nt

[ificandream]

94. Unfortunately, I don't, but my mobile got it for me without any problem.

[ificandream]

52. As far as Licht's tenure at CNN goes ....

Even going in, I thought CNN had been doing ok as far as their coverage goes. (I watch MSNBC, so I don't pay a lot of attention to it.) Licht, however, wanted to get CNN attention. He did it in spades. There are better ways to broaden your audience. Licht didn't have a clue how to do that. The Trump town hall was an unmitigated disaster. You don't give an attention whore like that free rein on a news channel, which is exactly what Licht did. People (except for the beloved Christiane Amanpour) seemed afraid to criticize him. When the Atlantic piece hit the fan, it spelled the end of the line. The people at CNN are breathing a sigh o relief today.

[mchill]

53. But Licht was just a symptom of the 2 guys above him

[ificandream]

59. Well, as I said, I prefered MSNBC over CNN.

I could watch CNN without grimacing (as I do if I ever turn on Fox). I didn't think it was as bad as some people do. But Licht really sank the anchor.

[mchill]

62. CNN lost me 50% when Brian Stelter fired, then

I did watch Erin Burnett and on occasion their other Prime time hosts, but MSNBC still my go to. When they fired Cuomo and Lemmon I got out of the habit of flipping over there and Erin Burnett left my psyche and I even liked her.

[calimary]

54. That's no surprise.

Last edited Wed Jun 7, 2023, 09:20 PM - Edit history (1)

I’m actually surprised they kept him this long. What a bad move bringing him in, to begin with.

And Brian Stelter was one of my favorites.

[PortTack]

55. Typical thou...he no doubt was taking orders from Leavy and the billion owner

Have tfg on for a town hall, then when ratings fell further to almost unseen levels, they blame him.

Not defending him, he’s complicit and could have said no, or I’ll leave but instead looked at the money and followed orders.

The proof will be in what happens next. Do they continue to going to the right, away from the truth and actual news? Or ..do they pivot and start actually broadcasting news.

[Sky Jewels]

56. Has anyone seen a Receptacle of Precipitation?

[Mr. Sparkle]

57. They guy who hired him should also be fired

that was a terrible mistake and a complete lack of judgment.

[llmart]

60. Gee, I wonder if the decision to give the Orange Blob a platform for spewing his hatred once again..

was the nail in his coffin?

DU'ers could have told him that everything tfg touches is damaged and/or dies.

[Butterflylady]

61. Wasn't such a grand idea now was it, having rump do a town hall?

[NewHendoLib]

63. Someone finally turned the Licht out.

[Sky Jewels]

75. As the Bard said...

Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

[Crowman2009]

72. Time to break out the world's smallet violion orchestra!

[Cha]

76. Fuck around with trump and Find

Out, Licht.

TY

[NCjack]

79. Don't forgive and don't forget. Just keep-on not watching CNN.

[BigmanPigman]

84. That is my ongoing practice now. Fuck them.

Permanent boycott!

[sellitman]

81. He made his own bed.

Hope the mattress has fleas.

[BigmanPigman]

83. But has Warner Media learned its lesson?

Or will David Slaslav/Warner Media continue to ruin everything he touches?

[Skittles]

86. OK CNN, here's your chance to win back viewers

DON'T BLOW IT

[somaticexperiencing]

87. Licht my ass.

[C Moon]

89. That's good news.

[cstanleytech]

91. It seemed to me that he was trying to turn CNN into a PR arm of the GOP like Fox News.

[Dawson Leery]

93. Bye!