Chris Licht, in New York, May 17, 2023. DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS / AFP
As the 2024 US presidential campaign begins, which has traditionally seen a large surge in viewership and news channel revenues, it is not the best time for a revolution. But after several weeks of editorial turmoil, CNN CEO Chris Licht will be stepping down from the helm of the American television network, the Warner Bros. Discovery group announced on Wednesday, June 7. The bosses of the CNN parent company have not yet named a successor.
Chris Licht took over as head of the United States’ oldest continuous news network in May 2022 after the sudden departure of iconic boss Jeff Zucker, who had not told his executives about his romantic relationship with a CNN executive. Since then, the 50-year-old has been trying to revive the old lady of the permanent news, whose audience suffers from the competition from conservative rival Fox News, but also from MSNBC, with a more left-wing editorial line.
He has made several changes to the program schedule, so far without success, and attempted some media stunts, most notably the live public broadcast with Donald Trump as a guest in mid-May. This show was poorly received by some of the public, but also by the editorial staff, who saw it as a platform offered unreservedly to the former President in front of an audience of mostly Republican sympathizers who were committed to his cause.
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The show’s impact on audiences was also short-lived, as a few days later CNN fell behind small conservative Newsmax in the day’s rankings.
Clean break with his teams
Chris Licht’s position was further weakened with the publication of a very lengthy article in The Atlantic magazine on June 2, which highlighted the clear rift between the manager and his teams.
“It has not been an easy task, especially at a time of great upheaval and change, and Chris has put his heart and soul into it,” David Zaslav, CEO of CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement. Internal communication received from Agence France-Presse. “Unfortunately, things didn’t go the way we hoped and in the end I take responsibility for that,” he added.
The arrival of Chris Licht at CNN marked an era change within the network, which is now part of the new entity Warner Bros. Discovery, a merger of the television company Discovery and its competitor Warner Bros., which also owns the HBO channel and HBO Max -Streaming include platform, recently renamed Max.
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“The Field of Direct Journalism”
Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who became head of the merged group, imposed cost cuts and more restraint on content spending, marking a breakthrough for Warner Bros.
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” It is clear that [Chris Licht] was not viewed well by the editors, but the question is whether it was for the sake of his management or because he was trying to push them in a direction they didn’t want to go in,” said Jeffrey McCall, a professor at DePauw University.
“Chris Licht has been trying to bring CNN back into the realm of direct journalism,” the scholar continues, in a less subjective tone, for which the channel was already “ideologically biased” that had “limited its audience to the left” of MSNBC .
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“Licht and his bosses are wrong in thinking that people want information that’s right in the middle,” estimated editorial-level editor Cynthia Tucker, whose tickets are picked up in several newspapers. “If that were the case, [la chaîne publique] PBS,” with a very dovish tone, “would be at the top of the ratings chart. »
News of Chris Licht’s departure was welcomed by Wall Street. Warner Bros. Discovery stock is up 4.50% as of midday New York time.
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