Yahoo Sports CNN Boss Chris Licht Ousted amid Plunging Ratings and Staff Morale
The news of Licht's departure comes days after the short-lived CEO promised CNN staffers he'd 'fight like hell' to win back their trust
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Chris LichtChris Licht, who took over as CEO and chairman of CNN in February of last year, will be vacating his role only 16 months into the job, according to an internal memo obtained by PEOPLE.
"I have known Chris for many years and have enormous respect for him, personally and professionally. This job was never going to be easy, especially at a time of great disruption and transformation, and Chris poured his heart and soul into it," Warner Bros. Discover CEO David Zaslav wrote in the memo.
Zaslav added: "Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we had hoped — and ultimately that’s on me. I take responsibility. Needless to say, we appreciate Chris’ efforts and dedication and wish him all the best."
The news of Licht's ousting comes days after a scathing profile of Licht dropped in The Atlantic and reportedly led employees to lose faith in his leadership style and abilities.
Atlantic reporter Tim Alberta spent months speaking with Licht for the profile, which was published last Friday and painted Licht as an executive who is out of touch with his employees, many of whom reacted to the profile with disappointment.
“It’s very frustrating,” one employee told New York Magazine, “that we learn more about Licht’s motivations from interviews than we do from internal communication.”
Those remarks echoed the staffer concerns laid out by The Atlantic: "Every employee I spoke with was asking some variation of the same question," Alberta wrote. "Did Licht have any idea what he was doing?"
On a Monday morning editorial call, Licht reportedly said, "To those whose trust I've lost, I will fight like hell to win it back, because you deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world's most trusted name in news."
Related: <strong>The Biggest Takeaways from CNN's Controversial Town Hall with Donald Trump</strong>
News of Licht's departure — even with an apology for the Atlantic piece — still doesn't come as much of a shock, timed nearly one month after a disastrous town hall with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump saw the former president repeatedly bulldoze moderator Kaitlan Collins and make largely unchecked claims on live television.
Trump reiterated lies that the 2020 elections were "rigged" and called the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the state capitol "a beautiful day." He also lobbed insults at writer E. Jean Carroll, who won her lawsuit against him the day before for sexual abuse and defamation, calling her a "wack job."
He went on to say he "did not know" Carroll, and suggested that her claims that he forced her against a dressing room and assaulted her at Bergdorf Goodman 27 years ago were false and referred to the alleged assault as "hanky-panky."
Following the town hall, CNN received criticism online from the public, news reporters and former TV news executives, and phrases like BoycottCNN, DoneWithCNN and ByeCNN trended all night after the broadcast, per The Washington Post. The network also saw a quick and dramatic dip in ratings, presumably in response.
At a Thursday staff meeting after the town hall, Licht reportedly defended the broadcast to staff members, even promoting Collins to a primetime slot the following week.
"I am aware that there have been people with opinions [and] backlash, and that is absolutely expected," Licht said of the town hall, according to The Washington Post. "And I'll say this as clearly as I possibly can: You do not have to like the former president's answers, but you can't say we didn't get them."
"… America was served very well by what we did last night," he added. "People woke up and they know what the stakes are in this election in a way they didn't the day before."
Licht took over running the network in February, 2022 from CNN president Jeff Zucker who abruptly resigned. Since then, CNN host Brian Stelter exited the network following the cancellation of his morning show Reliable Sources, and host John Hardwood also left amid several changes at the network. Don Lemon was also fired from the network in April.
On the first day of the job, Licht sent out a memo to CNN staff saying that "CNN must be a vital, relevant, and respected part of our culture."
"Sadly, too many people have lost trust in the news media," Licht wrote.
"I think we can be a beacon in regaining that trust by being an organization that exemplifies the best characteristics of journalism: fearlessly speaking truth to power, challenging the status quo, questioning 'group-think' and educating viewers and readers with straightforward facts and insightful commentary, while always being respectful of differing viewpoints," he continued.
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