Thompson, who begins within the position on Oct. 9, involves CNN after a prolonged profession in media. He spent eight years as chief govt of the New York Occasions Firm, the place he oversaw important progress in digital subscription income, serving to to offset losses in print circulation and promoting. He stepped down from that position in 2020, after he mentioned that he “achieved every little thing I got down to do.”
Thompson had come to the Occasions after spending practically his whole profession on the BBC, the place he served as director common.
Along with overseeing CNN’s technique, operations and enterprise items, he’ll function the community’s editor in chief, the corporate introduced on Wednesday.
“There isn’t a extra skilled, revered or succesful govt within the information enterprise immediately than Mark, and we’re thrilled to have him be a part of our group and lead CNN Worldwide into the longer term,” Warner Bros. Discovery chief govt David Zaslav mentioned.
Zaslav known as Thompson “a real innovator who has remodeled for the digital age two of the world’s most revered information organizations” and mentioned that “his strategic imaginative and prescient, observe file in transformational management and sheer ardour for information make him a formidable drive for CNN and journalism at this pivotal time.”
Zaslav had been equally glowing in his reward of Licht when he employed him within the February 2022 to take over for Jeff Zucker, a charismatic and widespread president who had earned the loyalty of the community’s staffers earlier than being compelled out over an undisclosed romantic relationship with an in depth colleague.
However Licht by no means discovered his footing at CNN, the place he steadily misplaced the arrogance of staff after which company administration, who determined to take away him from his submit and put the community within the fingers of 4 executives — Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling and David C. Leavy — till a brand new chief might be appointed. (These executives will proceed of their roles, however will now report back to Thompson.)
The breaking level had been a bruising profile within the Atlantic journal that had painted a portrait of an ineffective and out-of-touch chief. Licht had additionally confronted backlash, each internally and externally, after CNN hosted a city corridor with Donald Trump in Could that shortly was a circus.
Zaslav had not carried out a proper search when appointing Licht and had interviewed no different candidates. This time round, Zaslav had promised CNN staff a prolonged search, which he mentioned in early June would take “months.” That search solely ended up taking about two and a half months.
Thompson has his work lower out for him at CNN, which has currently trailed each MSNBC and Fox Information in attracting viewers. In July, the community averaged 426,000 whole viewers all through the day, in comparison with 723,000 for MSNBC and greater than 1 million for Fox Information. In prime time, CNN averaged solely 534,000, lower than half of what MSNBC’s lineup introduced in.
However, the community is hoping {that a} new prime time lineup — set by CNN’s interim management group — will make a distinction.
The community can also be placing extra emphasis on streaming programming. One among Licht’s first obligations as chief govt was saying the closure of CNN Plus, the corporate’s $100 million wager on streaming. That service was meant to be a life raft to a future during which the community not bought the vast majority of its income from contracts with cable tv corporations.
After greater than a yr within the streaming wilderness, the corporate final week introduced the late September launch of CNN Max, a devoted, 24-hour information hub on the Max streaming service, which encompasses tv content material from throughout the broader Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio of networks. The CNN Max service will provide new programming from CNN personalities like Jim Acosta and Jim Sciutto in addition to a reside broadcast of some reveals from the community’s common tv lineup.
At an business convention in November 2021, Thompson had expressed considerations concerning the capability of tv information networks in the US to innovate and entice youthful audiences. “Information looks like a very old school type of broadcasting aimed totally at older audiences,” he mentioned on the occasion. “I reside within the U.S. and [TV news] appears utterly unchanged because the 1980s. I believe it’s in useless bother.”
Within the announcement on Wednesday, Thompson expressed his readiness to deal with the structural challenges dealing with each the community and the broader tv business.
“The world wants correct reliable information now greater than ever and we’ve by no means had extra methods of assembly that want at dwelling and overseas,” he mentioned. “The place others see disruption, I see alternative.”
Thompson bought the highest job on the BBC after working for many years as a journalist, starting as a manufacturing trainee in 1979. He helped the broadcaster transition to the digital world and forge new partnerships, and was requested to do one thing related when he turned chief govt of the Occasions in 2012. The newspaper publication was struggling to transition past print and had recorded a web lack of $88 million for the second quarter of 2012. By the top of the fiscal yr, the newspaper had 640,000 digital-only subscribers; however, by the center level of 2020, the Occasions had 5.67 million.
Upon his departure, Occasions writer A.G. Sulzberger credited Thompson with guiding that “digital transformation.”
“Mark has a powerful file of discovering methods to make sure cultures of journalistic excellence and enterprise innovation flourish alongside one another,” Sulzberger mentioned in an announcement to The Submit on Wednesday. “CNN is fortunate to have him main them ahead. So is the general public, as a result of America wants extra robust information organizations.”
Jonathan Klein, the previous president of CNN U.S., known as Thompson “an distinctive alternative” with the abilities to maneuver CNN right into a future extra outlined by direct-to-consumer subscriptions and new platforms than conventional tv.
“He’s not a tv programming wizard. He’s a really substantial, achieved steward of robust journalistic manufacturers,” Klein mentioned. “In the event that they’re seeking to restore the model, they’ve positively began in the best place.”
This story has been up to date.