Executive producer Chris Licht of the television show Our Cartoon Head speaks onstage during the CBS/Showtime segment of the Winter Television Critics Association 2018 press tour in Langham-Huntington, Pasadena on January 6, 2018 in Pasadena, California.
Frederick M. Brown | Getty Images
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Discovery The WarnerMedia deal isn’t sold out yet, but there are already signs that cable news channel CNN is on the cusp of a change.
Discovery officially named Chris Licht as the new president of CNN on Monday. Former CNN chief Jeff Zucker reluctantly resigned earlier this month after failing to disclose an office relationship with former CNN chief marketing officer Alison Golust. If Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia closes next month, as expected, Light will debut on CNN in May after leaving CBS in “two weeks,” according to an internal memo received by CNBC.
Licht was the only person who David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery, contacted about the Zucker acquisition, according to people familiar with the matter. The people, who declined to be named because the talks were private, said there was no criticism from executives or any outside hiring company involved in the decision.
Zaslav and Lecht have known each other for over ten years and Lecht often went to Zaslav parties at his home in the Hamptons.
“I have known and admired Chris for over 15 years and I believe he is the best person to lead CNN Global as part of Warner Bros. Discovery,” Zaslav said in a statement.
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Light has built a reputation in the television industry as a transformational guru. After founding “Morning Joe” with Joe Scarborough in 2007 as the show’s executive producer, Light joined CBS in 2011 to reinvent the CBS morning show. Struggling with low ratings and lack of focus† In 2016, he became an executive producer of “Late Show met Stephen ColbertThis in turn helps increase ratings.
“If you want to reinvent CNN and bring it closer to its original mission of just reporting the news, he’s the man for you,” said Moshe Oinono, a media consultant who worked with Light at CBS from 2011 to 2016. as part of the team. that relaunched “CBS This Morning”.
While Zaslav has not made any public comments about dissatisfaction with CNN under Zucker, Discovery board member and controlling officer John Malone told CNBC’s David Faber in November that he prefers CNN return to the network that rose to prominence in the 1990s. .
“I’d love to see CNN evolve back into the kind of journalism it started out with, and it already has journalists, you know, and that would be unique and refreshing,” Malone said. said Faber.
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Zucker, from Looks like he could play an important role At Discovery Warner Media, before his sudden resignation, he sent CNN to a mix of bad news, Commentary from reporters like Don Lemon and Jake Tapper, and light shows on weekends, such as: Stanley Tucci: The Quest for Italyand Anthony Bourdain: parts unknown.
Licht will let CNN characters be themselves, but he’s also not afraid to tell talent what to hear, according to Ryan Kadrow, who also worked with Licht at CBS and took charge of “CBS This Morning” when Licht left.
Kadro credited Licht for making Colbert “more authentic,” citing the November 2016 episode that aired when Donald Trump won the presidential election as a turning point for the show’s acquisition of the identity. Kadrow also credited Light for choosing Gayle King to co-host “CBS This Morning,” when she previously had no experience anchoring national news.
“That’s all Chris,” Kadrow said.
Along with head of news Jeff Feiger and CBS president David Rhodes, Light focused “CBS This Morning” on tough news rather than softer ones. Hosted by King, Charlie Rose and Nora O’Donnell, the show had huge ratings on NBC’s “Today” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” in 2016.
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While Licht’s shift to hard news in early CBS reflects Malone’s desires for CNN, Licht’s gift for talent to showcase her true personalities may conflict with broadcast news in unbiased ways — especially if Trump becomes president again in 2024.
Zucker also specializes in showing off CNN’s talent, exemplified by reporters exposing Trump’s lies and misstatements. increasingly assertive methods during his tenure.
A former colleague said Zucker was a role model for the yacht. This is probably good news for CNN employees, who: They have strongly supported Zucker in recent weeks and praised his leadership.
Kadro said that when Yacht joined CBS, he immediately went on a “listening tour” with current employees to see what worked and what didn’t. This could be particularly important at CNN right away, given the losses incurred by Zucker and Gollust, who some internal CNN employees viewed as a potential replacement for Zucker.
“I plan to listen a lot,” Licht said in a note he wrote to current CNN employees. “Together, we will double down on what works well and quickly eliminate what doesn’t.”
Licht noted, however, that he capitalized the word “news” in a note he wrote to CNN staff on Monday — apparently echoing Malone’s comments that CNN should redirect it to live news coverage.
“I know you have a lot of questions,” Licht wrote in a note to CNN staff. “Perhaps the biggest one is how CNN will change? The honest answer is I don’t know yet. David Zaslav gave me one simple direction: to ensure CNN remains a global leader in NEWS as part of Warner Bros. Discovery.”
Watch: CNN’s Jeff Zucker Has Made the Decision to Quit, Says AT&T CEO John Stankey.
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