CNN announced Wednesday the departure of its long-year CEO, Chris Licht. "I've met with Chris, and he's going to leave," said David Zaslav, chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, the news network's parent company.
Licht's departure followed a profile in The Atlantic over the weekend titled "Inside the CNN Collapse." This was the latest straw in a string of embarrassing events at the network, which included layoffs, low ratings and low employee morale.
He will leave office following a series of embarrassing events. Licht (Photo: Reuters)
In the article, reporter Tim Alberta accompanied and interviewed Licht on several occasions, painting a picture that embarrassed Licht as well as the network. THERE, HE SAID THAT AT A TOWN HALL EVENT PRODUCED BY THE NETWORK WITH FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP LAST MONTH, LICHT TOLD THE PRESIDENT TO "HAVE FUN" BEFORE TAKING THE STAGE, SINCE HE KNEW THE CROWD AT THE EVENT WAS FULL OF TRUMP SUPPORTERS. In doing so, it is effectively possible for the former president to express himself bluntly and disparage the network itself during the broadcast. The Atlantic also wrote that Licht underestimated the network's coverage of the COVID-51 pandemic because many of his moves had failed, and because he was obsessed with his image.
On Monday, Licht arrived at the editorial board meeting, where he immediately apologized and claimed that he "wants to say that I did a lot of thinking over the weekend." CNN reported that Licht, <>, claimed at that meeting that he did not recognize the person described in the article and that he should not be in the news. He went on to apologize for the ensuing hardship in CNN's newsroom, saying he promised to fight for workers.
The leadership of the network will be done jointly among several senior officials until a replacement is chosen. CNN (Photo: ShutterStock)
However, it has been claimed that behind the scenes Licht may have lost his newsroom. The employees, it said, did not hear from the CEO the apology they had hoped for for disparaging the network's journalism work in the past. The Wall Street Jarnell quoted anonymous sources as saying that the network's biggest stars, Anderson Cooper, Jack Tupper and Erin Barnett, had criticized the outgoing CEO.
Zelensev announced that for the time being, the leadership of the network will be carried out jointly between several senior officials and senior officials, until a replacement is chosen.
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