Chris Licht, Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide.
Courtesy: CNN
CNN CEO Chris Licht began conducting a enterprise evaluation of the information community when he agreed to take the job in April.
That analysis wrapped up final week, based on individuals aware of the matter, and CNN staff are about to seek out out Licht’s conclusions.
Licht faces many challenges at CNN. Like all cable information networks, the enterprise is shrinking. CNN makes cash off promoting and pay-TV subscriber charges. But as tens of millions of Americans cancel conventional pay TV every year in favor of streaming companies, CNN virtually actually cannot elevate subscription charges at a quick sufficient clip to make up for declining viewer numbers.
CNN’s revenue is about to drop beneath $1 billion this 12 months for the primary time since 2016, when Donald Trump was elected president. Parent firm Warner Bros. Discovery‘s valuation has almost been reduce in half this 12 months as traders have lowered their expectations on international streaming subscriber progress and macroeconomic pressures have pressured promoting income.
Licht has been given a mandate from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to rework CNN, which the community boss is internally referring to as a “right sizing” of the enterprise. Many of Licht’s job cuts are nonetheless to return this 12 months, based on individuals aware of the matter, who requested to not be named as a result of the choices are personal.
Licht’s evaluation is a component of a bigger effort spearheaded by Zaslav, who has instructed division heads all through the corporate to rethink their models and discover methods to chop prices. More than 1,000 individuals shall be laid off by Warner Bros. Discovery earlier than the top of the 12 months, mentioned the individuals, who requested to not be named as a result of the discussions are personal and ongoing. Warner Bros. Discovery has about 40,000 staff.
Licht would not have a particular order to chop a specific amount of jobs or save a particular proportion of spending. But he is planning to chop components of CNN that he have develop into bloated over time, mentioned the individuals. A CNN spokesperson declined to remark.
Some of the reductions have already occurred. Licht has reduce on CNN’s audio division to remove unpopular podcasts. He’s shuttered CNN’s NFT market. And his first job was to kill CNN+, the corporate’s fledgling streaming service strongly supported by former CNN head Jeff Zucker.
There have additionally been modifications to the community’s content material. In May, Licht instructed CNN’s TV manufacturing employees to cease overusing “Breaking News” banners. He’s altering CNN’s lineup one present at a time, beginning with transferring anchor Jake Tapper from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and shifting Don Lemon from 11 pm to co-host “CNN This Morning,” the community’s refurbished morning information present, together with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. CNN’s new morning present debuts Nov. 1.
But Licht’s greatest problem — greater than accelerating revenue or income or retooling his programming lineup or successful rankings battles over Fox News and MSNBC — could also be to win the belief of his personal staff.
“When [Zaslav] called and offered me the job, he told me what he was looking for out of CNN,” Licht mentioned in a short interview this month. “And I said, ‘That’s exactly the kind of network I would like to see.’ There’s no daylight between his vision for this network and my vision for this network. The only reason why I took this job is because it was him in charge. I thought, I can deliver this for him.”
Shifting from Zucker
Part of Licht’s problem as the brand new chief of CNN is he is not the previous chief.
Jeff Zucker wasn’t simply the pinnacle of CNN. He was the driving power of the community, concerned in each choice of significance each day. He ran editorial calls, labored carefully with each present’s anchors and producers, and offered every day suggestions. He was beloved by many staff who appreciated his consideration to element and care for his or her careers. CNN media reporters Brian Stelter and Oliver Darcy known as him “a singular figure in American media” the day after he resigned. His closest comparability, when it comes to management over a cable information community, could have been the late Roger Ailes at Fox News.
Licht is purposefully main CNN in a different way than Zucker. He’s avoiding saying what he thinks about particular person present selections, based on individuals aware of his management fashion. Licht has mentioned in personal conferences that he is attempting to empower govt producers and present producers to make choices by themselves. He desires staff to listen to marching orders from direct managers somewhat than him. That’s a major change for present leaders who’ve been conditioned to attend for Zucker’s blessing earlier than performing.
Jeff Zucker, left, and David Zaslav
Chris Kleponis | Bloomberg by way of Getty Images; CNBC
“I love the control room, and I love the feeling of sending a text and seeing it show up on screen 10 minutes later, but there’s so much happening that we’ll be paralyzed if everyone is waiting to hear from me,” mentioned Licht. “That’s just not how I operate.”
Some staff have not been positive what to make of Licht’s hands-off fashion. They concern he is evaluating them — which he has been. But Licht’s lack of suggestions can also be strategic. He could solely be capable to get his staff to belief him with time.
There’s additionally a hangover impact from the sudden collapse of CNN+, which Zucker pushed relentlessly as the way forward for the enterprise. Hundreds of staff have been employed solely to lose their jobs or reapply elsewhere within the firm. The streaming service served as a north star for the way forward for CNN. That’s out of the blue gone, leaving an worker base confused about CNN’s future.
A brand new period
Licht’s method is not the one factor altering. He desires CNN to cowl tales extra like a newspaper and fewer like Politico, based on individuals aware of his pondering. That means extra tales that a mean household would talk about across the dinner desk and fewer obsessive deal with politics. He’d prefer to cowl extra enterprise, know-how and even sports activities, mentioned the individuals, who requested to not be named as a result of the discussions have been personal.
Chris Licht, Chairman and CEO, CNN Worldwide speaks onstage in the course of the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront 2022 present at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on May 18, 2022 in New York City.
Dimitrios Kambouris | Getty Images
That’s significantly vital for moments in time that are not dominated by crises. One of Licht’s main complaints with CNN in recent times has been the community’s tendency to hover in outrage, mentioned the individuals. Pushing conversations to the acute on a subject similar to a brand new coronavirus mutation could make for compelling tv, but when Americans are transferring ahead with their days and never even talking about it, it isn’t proper for CNN, mentioned the individuals.
Licht is already considering learn how to cowl Trump if he runs for president once more in 2024. Licht hasn’t instructed anchors or reporters to develop into extra centrist, opposite to in style perception, based on individuals aware of his conversations with expertise. He does need viewpoints from either side of the political divide to seem on CNN. But he will not stand for friends who push disinformation, he mentioned.
“The analogy I love to use is some people like rain, some people don’t like rain. We should give space to that. But we will not have someone who comes on and says it’s not raining,” Licht mentioned.
This would require CNN anchors, reporters and bookers to steer friends into subjects they’re certified to discuss. CNN will not ban friends who’ve supported the false declare that the 2020 election was stolen, however the community will try to hold conversations with these individuals in protected zones of reality, mentioned individuals aware of Licht’s pondering.
The analogy I like to make use of is a few individuals like rain, some individuals don’t love rain. We ought to give area to that. But we is not going to have somebody who comes on and says it isn’t raining.
The thought Licht would steer CNN towards the political proper is considerably ironic – and unsuitable, Licht mentioned – provided that he credit then-Vice President Joe Biden with saving his life in 2010. Licht had a cerebral hemorrhage that just about killed him when he was 38. At the time, he was producing NBC’s “Morning Joe.” Biden helped discover a prime neurosurgeon for Licht on the behest of “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski. Licht would finally write a guide concerning the incident and the way it formed it life, titled “What I Learned When I Almost Died.” The Daily Beast requested Licht in 2011 how he would struggle off criticism from conservatives who believed Biden’s intervention in his care could bias him towards a Democratic agenda.
Rather than pushing politics, Licht has instructed anchors he is in search of authenticity on air. That perspective is what prompted him to heart the community’s primetime lineup round Tapper. Licht pushed Stephen Colbert to faucet into his actual character as host of CBS’ “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” CNN content material chief Ryan Kadro instructed CNBC earlier this 12 months.
But Tapper’s present has struggled out of the gate, constantly shedding to his competitors for whole viewers to MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight” and Fox News’ “Hannity.” CNN executives are writing off the early poor efficiency to Tapper experimenting with the shape, saying he is effectually doing a pilot present every night time. But it is potential primetime viewers aren’t in search of the identical factor Licht desires — a no-nonsense host who steers clear of concern.
Months of unease
CNN has about 4,500 staff. For them, the final 18 months have been rife with chaos and trauma.
CNN has been by way of a litany of destabilizing company occasions relationship again to final May. That’s when AT&T introduced it could merge WarnerMedia, then CNN’s mum or dad firm, with Discovery. Along with the transaction, Zaslav introduced he’d change Jason Kilar as WarnerMedia’s new CEO.
Mergers virtually all the time trigger change. But John Malone, a longtime Discovery shareholder who now sits on the mixed firm’s board, injected a jolt of uncertainty into CNN’s tradition in a November interview with CNBC.
“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” mentioned the billionaire media mogul and longtime chairman of Liberty Media, which is a serious shareholder in Warner Bros. Discovery.
The feedback heightened nervousness for a lot of CNN staffers, based on six individuals who have been on the firm on the time. If Malone did not assume CNN had “actual” journalists, who have been the almost 1,000 reporters and editors all over the world employed by CNN?
Initially, there was a way CNN could keep away from main layoffs or a strategic revamp as a result of Zucker was longtime buddies with Zaslav. Zucker believed he was in line to take a good greater function on the firm, based on individuals aware of his thought course of.
But Zucker abruptly resigned in February after failing to reveal an inner relationship with CNN chief advertising and marketing officer Allison Gollust. The stunning revelation arose from due diligence associated to a different CNN scandal — anchor Chris Cuomo shedding his job after the community discovered he improperly suggested his brother, then-N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, about learn how to deal with a sequence of sexual harassment allegations.
Zucker’s departure would have been tough to navigate below any circumstances given his outsized function. But it was significantly unhealthy timing solely three months earlier than the merger, which might deliver a model new company management workforce.
The brutally quick lifetime of CNN+
Even worse, CNN was simply months away from launching CNN+. Merger regulation did not enable Discovery to debate technique with CNN management. But CNBC reported instantly upon Zucker’s departure that Zaslav wasn’t bought on the thought of CNN+ as a standalone streaming service.
Still, and not using a directive to cease transferring forward with the launch, CNN+ head Andrew Morse stored pushing ahead. CNN+ debuted on March 29, backed by $300 million of funding. On April 8, WarnerMedia formally merged with Discovery, placing Zaslav in cost. Less than two weeks later, WarnerMedia introduced it could shut down CNN+. The streaming service lasted for 32 days.
Zaslav known as in Licht about three weeks earlier than his beforehand introduced begin date of May 1 to bless the loss of life of CNN+. He needed to inform a whole bunch of CNN staff they’d lose their jobs earlier than he even formally began.
In August, Licht ended Sunday afternoon media present “Reliable Sources” and fired Stelter, who had years left on his contract. The choice was Licht’s, not Zaslav’s or Malone’s, based on individuals aware of the matter. Last month, Licht let go CNN White House correspondent John Harwood, a former reporter and editor for CNBC.
Both Stelter and Harwood had been outspoken Trump critics. Given Malone’s feedback, observers and staff have assumed Licht is surgically eradicating those that have coloured the CNN model as liberal over the previous six years.
CEO of Discovery Communications David Zaslav arrives for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 06, 2021 in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
But Licht mentioned that is “painfully inaccurate.” Part of Licht’s choice to remove “Reliable Sources” was his perception media protection was higher served digitally on CNN.com somewhat than dedicating a one-hour Sunday present to it, as he defined in a response to a column by former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.
Still, Stelter wasn’t provided an opportunity to remain at CNN in any capability, whilst a digital media reporter, based on individuals aware of the matter. There’s clear signaling profit to these turned off by CNN by shortly transferring on from those that gained recognition for being anti-Trump. And Licht would not run from the concept that CNN’s model was tarnished in the course of the Trump years.
“The brand is the most trusted brand in the world when it comes to journalism, right up there with the BBC,” Licht mentioned. “I think what happened a little bit here in the past was it’s easy to take the quick sugar high of ratings and outrage. So, I’m trying to do no harm to a great brand.”
Investing in digital
A merger, a sudden CEO departure, a direct finish to a digital streaming service, a whole bunch of layoffs, and the prospect of extra to return – it is no marvel CNN’s workforce is strolling on eggshells, a reality Licht and his workforce have privately acknowledged.
Licht depends on a reasonably tight internal circle of CNN veterans and new hires for strategic choices. He’s introduced in Kadro, head of technique Chris Marlin and head of communications Kris Coratti in current months, whereas elevating Virginia Moseley to go of editorial. Amy Entelis, Michael Bass and Ken Jautz additionally stay at CNN in key roles — the trio requested to run the community after Zucker departed.
Licht has been a TV producer his total skilled life, beginning in 1995 at KNBC in Los Angeles. In 2007, he took his first nationwide job, serving to to create “Morning Joe” for MSNBC. He left that function in 2011 to be the vice chairman of programming at CBS News and the chief producer of “CBS This Morning.” In 2016, Licht made the bizarre shift from information to comedy, taking over an govt producing job at CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Licht plans to ramp up funding in CNN.com, which his workforce feels has been mismanaged as a result of the entire digital cash and energy went to CNN+, the individuals mentioned. But he’ll should do it as Warner Bros. Discovery is attempting to chop prices.
CNN is upgrading its behind-the-scenes content material administration system, or CMS, and its digital video participant, which is able to deliver incremental redesigns to CNN.com, based on individuals aware of the matter. CNN.com attracts greater than 180 million month-to-month distinctive viewers, making it one of many world’s hottest information websites. The modifications also needs to deliver workflow alignments to CNN digital and linear, which ought to assist each entities’ content material and group.
While digital is not Licht’s background, he is labored in current months to study extra about it, based on individuals acquainted his discussions. CNN nonetheless hasn’t named a chief digital officer, though the corporate’s job posting now says it is stuffed. Sources mentioned a deal is almost completed and an announcement will come quickly.
CNN’s near-term future is much like that of Fox News and MSNBC — survive as a subscriber fee-collecting cable community for so long as potential. It’s way more more likely to present up as a part of the corporate’s bundled streaming service than a standalone information service. This was a serious concern of Kilar and Zucker, who believed CNN would get buried in a big streaming service, constructed to advocate the newest films and hit TV sequence as a substitute of reports.
But whereas Zucker and Kilar have been intent on investing in CNN’s future now, Licht’s focus mirrors Zaslav’s: hold cable subscriber charges flowing. Like different division leaders at Warner Bros. Discovery, Licht’s focus is growing profitability. For now, which means old fashioned tv – successful time slots, boosting promoting and throwing his power into enhancing CNN’s linear cable information community for U.S. and worldwide audiences.
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the mum or dad firm of MSNBC and CNBC.
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