Chris Licht, the CEO of CNN, is facing a crisis due to plummeting ratings and shrinking profits at the network. His leadership has been questioned by some staff members, especially after a recent 15,000-word profile in The Atlantic. His position was further threatened when David Leavy, a trusted associate of CNN parent CEO David Zaslav, was appointed to a top leadership position at the network. Mr. Licht addressed the lack of trust in his leadership during an editorial call and vowed to win back his staff’s trust.
Since taking over as CEO, ratings for CNN have decreased considerably. Newsmax, a conservative news network, has drawn more viewers than CNN on several occasions in the past month – something that was once considered unimaginable. Mr. Licht took time to find a 9 p.m. anchor, and the network’s viewership figures suffered as a result. His experiment to fill the hour with town halls, single-topic episodes, and high-profile interviews was a failure, and CNN saw some of its lowest viewership in over two decades.
One of Mr. Licht’s biggest programming errors was remaking CNN’s morning show, which struggled with ratings from the start. He brought together three anchors – Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlan Collins – but tensions on set escalated, and Mr. Lemon and Ms. Collins were eventually pushed out. Employees at CNN have also grown frustrated with Chris Marlin, the head of strategy and business operations hired by Mr. Licht, who they believe lacks the experience to manage a major cable news network.
Mr. Licht has also faced criticism for his handling of a town hall with former President Donald J. Trump, which was widely criticized for allowing Mr. Trump to make false statements without fact-checking. Amid all of these difficulties, some CNN staff members have lost confidence in Mr. Licht and feel that he is out of touch with the network’s journalists.
Mr. Licht has responded to this crisis by moving his office to a lower floor and vowing to work alongside his staff to make better shows. Despite these efforts, his position as CEO of CNN remains uncertain.
