CNN boss Chris Licht has been hitting the telephones to community anchors “he’s by no means spoken to earlier than” as he twists on the new seat after a damning journal profile known as into query his management, The Submit has realized.
Licht, realizing his reign could also be lower brief after only one yr, has engaged in main harm management that features calling the ratings-challenged community’s prime expertise, a number of sources instructed The Submit on Tuesday.
“He has been calling anchors who’ve by no means spoken to him earlier than,” mentioned a supply. “He must win the room however the [Atlantic] piece shortened his window of time to do this.”
Inside CNN, there’s a countdown for when David Zaslav, the CEO of the community’s mother or father Warner Bros Discovery, will pull the set off on firing his appointed puppet after putting in lieutenant David Leavy as CNN chief working officer final week, sources mentioned.
Some are speculating that the hammer will drop across the Fourth of July — in a bid to bury the information throughout the vacation weekend — whereas others suppose Licht has a couple of months to show issues round.
“It’s a coin toss,” a supply mentioned, noting that no person other than Zaslav actually is aware of the destiny of Licht. “However one factor is for certain, CNN wants to begin planning its presidential election protection.”
Already, inner names have been bandied about as to who would substitute Licht, the sources mentioned.
They embrace Amy Entelis, CNN’s government vp for expertise and content material growth, and Virginia Moseley, CNN’s government vp of editorial for the community’s US operation.
Moseley, a Jeff Zucker acolyte, is a hard-nosed government, who “wears down” her underlings however is “nice” at what she does, a supply mentioned.
Entelis, then again, is “a lot softer” and is usually popular with the rank-and-file, one other insider mentioned.
“Any inner promotion can be like shifting across the deck chairs on the Titanic,” one supply mentioned, noting that CNN nonetheless has to show round its cataclysmic scores, which plunged 25% in primetime in Could in comparison with final yr.
Others suppose Zaslav may hold Licht and have him run editorial operations whereas Leavy is basically his boss, working the enterprise, however such a demotion could not sit effectively with Licht — or CNN staffers, in response to sources.
CNN declined to remark.
The 15,000-word Atlantic expose, penned by Tim Alberta, depicted Licht as a thin-skinned, aloof government who’s remoted from staff who not belief his management.
Regardless of a mea culpa from Licht on Monday, CNN insiders have come down on their boss for alienating supporters and critics alike, together with veteran anchor Christiane Amanpour, who confronted Licht on his choice to host a city corridor with former President Trump final month.
He has additionally struggled to win over loyalists of his ousted predecessor Zucker, like Dana Bash, who nonetheless stays in shut contact together with her former boss, in response to a supply. Licht not too long ago gave Bash her first solo anchoring gig because the host of the daytime present “Inside Politics.”
Different prime anchors together with Jake Tapper, Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper have voiced their issues about Licht’s management, with some complaining to Leavy, in response to sources cited by The Wall Avenue Journal on Tuesday.
CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy blasted Licht in his Monday publication, “Dependable Sources,” writing the Atlantic exposé “known as into critical query Licht’s judgment [and] his means to guide the community’s workers.”
He added that Licht has “alienated a lot of the worker base and squandered the great will he had when he took helm of the community,” noting that Licht’s efforts to “reset relations greater than a yr into his tenure” could also be too little too late.
The reporter famous that Licht’s apology didn’t embrace his disparagement of CNN’s earlier journalism, which left staffers “annoyed” and “indignant.”
“Many are unhappy in regards to the terrible state of affairs that has taken maintain of a corporation they love,” Darcy wrote. “Within the eyes of so many at CNN, there isn’t something Licht can do at this level to win over their help. They’ve hit the wall with him.”