Yahoo Sports CNN Staff Exhausted After Chris Licht’s Resignation: ‘Sick of Being Embarrassed’
Chris Licht is stepping down as CEO of CNN after barely a year on the job, the network announced on Wednesday. Licht’s brief, tumultuous tenure at the helm of the cable news giant was capped by a widely maligned decision to host a town hall event with Donald Trump last month, and the publication last week of a damning profile in The Atlantic. He will be replaced on an interim basis by longtime executive Amy Entelis, the network announced.
CNN talent who spoke to Rolling Stone responded to the news with relief. “People are sick of being embarrassed,” said one. “Many are longing for the [former CNN president] Jeff [Zucker] days of competence and confidence. What was left to destroy? In under a year he burned this place to the ground. Now we have to rebuild.”
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“It’s hard to shock me at this point so I’m not shocked, but I’m ready for the flux to be over,” said another, describing the feeling at the network as “exhaustion.”
The talent who spoke about being “embarrassed” agrees, noting that people are tired and demoralized. “We’ve been dragged through hell, and there’s no guarantee things will be righted any time soon,” the person said, adding that Licht stepping down could have been the result of “the Atlantic piece, which made Zaz [David Zaslav] look pretty bad for defending Chris.”
Zaslav, head of Warner Bros. Discovery (which owns CNN), continued to defend Licht in a memo explaining the decision sent to staffers and shared with Rolling Stone, writing, “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. He has a deep love for journalism and this business and that has been evident throughout his tenure. Unfortunately, things did not work out the we 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.”
Zaslav said the company would be “conducting a wide search, internally and externally” for Licht’s replacement. For the time being, the leadership team will be comprised of Entelis, and other execs on the editorial and commercial side, including Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, and David Leavy. “We are in good hands,” Zaslav said, “allowing us to take the time we need to run a thoughtful and thorough search for a new leader. I recognize that changes like this can be stressful and appreciate your continued patience as we move through this process.”
Network talent doesn’t see Entelis as a long-term replacement. “Zaz seems hell bent on getting rid of all the Jeff [Zucker] era stuff, so I doubt it,” one said of Entelis’ potential staying power.
Licht spent just over a year at CNN, taking the helm in February 2022 after the resignation of Zucker. Zucker had left under tumultuous circumstances himself, stepping down after an investigation into how former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo helped his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, navigate sexual misconduct, turned up an undisclosed relationship between Zucker and a colleague. (As Rolling Stone reported at the time, questions had long swirled around Zucker’s willingness to push aside journalistic integrity and ethics in pursuit of ratings.)
Upon entering the CNN newsroom, Licht sent a memo to the staff in which he lamented the loss of “trust in the news media,” and said he believed CNN could “be a beacon in regaining that trust by being an organization that exemplifies the best characteristics in 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.”
“Being respectful of differing viewpoints,” however, appeared to underline a more specific task. As outlined in The Atlantic piece, CNN’s ratings had fallen drastically since Trump left office, and the network was eager to not only just court viewers of all kinds, but particularly Republicans who’d ditched CNN during the Trump years.
In trying to find a centrist middle ground, however, Licht earned dubious glances and criticism. He told producers, for instance, to downplay the first January 6th Committee hearing, allowing MSNBC to score a massive ratings coup. He also visited Republicans in Congress in an effort to persuade them to start appearing on the network again, an ostensibly neutral move that was nevertheless met with skepticism.
Those efforts obviously peaked with Trump’s infamous town hall in May. The former president effectively turned the event into a campaign rally, steamrolling (and mocking) moderator Kaitlan Collins, while spouting out the usual torrent of misinformation about the 2020 election and investigations into his conduct in office. One CNN insider who spoke to Rolling Stone called the event “appalling.” Another called it “a fucking disgrace,” adding, “One-thousand percent a mistake [to host Trump]. No one [at CNN] is happy.”
While the Trump town hall may end up being the biggest blemish, Licht’s tenure was fraught with other issues and controversies. There were extensive layoffs, as well as low company morale, with Licht reportedly declining to have an office on a newsroom floor at the CNN headquarters, effectively separating himself from the network’s journalists.
Furthermore, CNN was rocked by scandal yet again in February, when longtime anchor Don Lemon made sexist comments about Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley and the years women are “considered to be in their prime.” While Lemon apologized and spent several days off the air, he was ousted from the network in April.
The morale issues that plagued Licht’s time at CNN reached a nadir less then one week ago following the publication of The Atlantic profile. Licht apologized to staffers for how the story had overshadowed CNN’s recent reporting, saying, “As I read that article, I found myself thinking, CNN is not about me.” He added: “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about.”
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