NEW YORK – Chris Licht, the ailing chief executive officer of CNN, on Monday apologized to network staff for distracting them from their jobs and vowed to “fight like hell” despite criticism of his year at the top to win their trust.
Licht’s tenure hit rock bottom last week with the release of a lengthy, damaging document profile by him in Atlantic magazine and the appointment of a new one executive from parent company Warner Bros. Discovery to help manage CNN.
According to a transcript of the conference call, Licht said in an editorial meeting that he was sorry that his role in the news cycle had overshadowed the work of CNN’s journalists. He described it as a humbling experience.
Licht said he will work to earn their trust, “because you deserve a leader to stand in the trenches fighting to keep CNN the world’s most trusted news name.”
“CNN is not about me,” he said. “I shouldn’t be on the news.”
A CNN spokesman declined to comment further Monday.
Light replaced a popular leader, jeff sugar, with a mission to win back some of the viewers alienated from CNN by former President Donald Trump’s attacks. This has led to resentment internally and among many Trump’s City Hall meeting was last month a misstep.
The executive’s redesign of CNN’s morning show fell through, resulting in the firing of a longtime figure Don Lemon. Licht plans to restructure the network Prime time cast moved slowly. Kaitlan Collins will begin a new show later this month, and CNN has signed Charles Barkley and Gayle King to host a weekly show.
In his Atlantic profile, author Tim Alberta wrote that Licht “looted” his way into his new job, telling staff that their hostility toward Trump alienated viewers who viewed CNN as a safe haven. This put him in a position to fight to win over both Republicans and some CNN journalists who believed Licht’s efforts to please his boss, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, to be made scapegoats.
“A year into his tenure, Licht lost both battles,” Alberta wrote.
CNN’s average prime-time viewership in May was 494,000, according to the company Nielsen. That’s less than half of what MSNBC receives and 16% down from April. An accelerating trend for cable shortening is also not helping cable networks retain viewers.
CNN reached 3.3 million people for its Trump Town Hall on May 10, but two nights later, prime-time viewership dropped to 335,000 people, Nielsen said.
One of Zaslav’s top employees at Warner Discovery, David Leavy, was named chief operating officer of CNN Worldwide last week and reports to Licht. Leavy will be responsible for commercial, operational and promotional activities at CNN, the network said.
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