Chris Licht, President and CEO of American television news network CNN, left the company on Wednesday after a series of controversies surrounding his editorial decisions and corporate governance. It is not yet clear whether he has resigned or been fired. Licht is a successful television producer, having produced the nightly comedy show The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and has started popular news programs such as Morning Joe on the MSNBC network.
In February 2022, he was named President and CEO of CNN, a cable network primarily focused on news, with a goal to innovate and revitalize the company. However, his 13 months at the helm of CNN were marked by numerous crises. Most recently, in April, Licht was forced to fire Don Lemon, one of the company’s most famous anchors, for making a male-chauvinistic comment live and some internal conflict over his perceived overly personalistic behavior. In May, CNN came under fire for airing a live interview with Donald Trump without proper context and discussion. These crises were exacerbated by a long article that the weekly Atlantic dedicated to Licht a few days ago, which deals with the difficulties faced by the manager and the great tensions within the company.
More generally, Licht has failed to stem the sharp decline in viewership and earnings that has plagued CNN for several years. In some very important timeframes, ratings are among their worst in decades, and last year the network broke under $1 billion in profit for the first time in several years.
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