Hall: Licht’s days at CNN were numbered from ‘Day One’
- Chris Licht's tenure as CNN CEO was fraught with inter-network turmoil
- A recent profile in Atlanta magazine may have been the tipping point
- Colby Hall: Licht firing 500 employees early on didn’t earn him any goodwill
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(NewsNation) — Chris Licht’s tenure as CEO at CNN was almost certain to be brief as soon as he was brought on board, according to NewsNation media contributor Colby Hall.
“Even before (Licht’s) first day, he had to basically let go all of the CNN+ streaming platform employees, which basically was a layoff of nearly 500 people,” Hall said.
And it never got much better.
A lengthy profile of Licht in Atlantic magazine that came out on Friday proved embarrassing and likely sealed his fate. The profile came shortly after CNN aired a town hall with former President Donald Trump, a move that drew ire from many employees at the network who feared they would be giving Trump a platform to further spread misinformation about the 2020 presidential election.
“I think the Trump town hall controversy certainly was sort of a tipping point,” Hall said.
But another question remains: Were Licht’s moves to try to bring CNN back to the political middle ground something their viewers actually wanted?
“(Licht) was trying to bring CNN back to a nonpartisan, nonpundit-focused bipartisan news outlet,” said Hall. “And really, the DNA of the rank and file of CNN seemed to know better.”
Hall noted there are several polls that indicate American audiences want nonpartisan news, but CNN’s ratings during Licht’s tenure indicate he may not have understood the audience he already had.
“The ratings — at least in the way that CNN was trying to accomplish (nonpartisan news coverage) — revealed that they weren’t tuning in to what CNN was serving.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
