It was a brief tenure for Chris Licht at CNN. The now-former CEO was told to pack up his office—he’s out. As Julio noted this morning, Licht’s departure marks the end of one of the most tumultuous periods in the network’s history. Frankly, I thought he was slightly more tolerable than ex-chief Jeff Zucker, who resigned in February 2022 over an undisclosed relationship with the network’s chief marketing and communications executive. Licht appeared to at least want to make CNN less hyperbolic, firing a host of blowhards like John Harwood and Brian Stelter and demoting Don Lemon, who was later sacked, not having been able to adapt to his new morning slot with co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins.
He also summoned media reporter Oliver Darcy to his office to excoriate him for his emotionally soaked write-up of the network’s town hall event with former President Donald Trump. At this meeting, Darcy was reportedly left shaking. That event might have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, as staffers voiced their outrage and opposition to the highly rated segment. Longtime host and reporter Christiane Amanpour called out her employer in her commencement address at the Columbia Journalism School in May.
Whatever the case, Licht is gone, but so are two other CNN executives: Matt Dornic and Kris Coratti.
UPDATE: CNN PR leaders Kris Coratti & Matt Dornic are now officially out. @PuckNews https://t.co/lvuAE2pQ8K
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) June 7, 2023
UPDATE @PuckNews: Chris Licht comms chief Kris Coratti cleaned out office last night and has told staff she expects to leave. Veteran CNN P.R. guru Matt Dornic also likely out. Licht's biz chief Chris Marlin and CoS Devan Cayea likely out this week as well https://t.co/j2BuuAlZpi https://t.co/x8sPPemqgR
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) June 7, 2023
Interim leadership at CNN will be:
— Dominick Mastrangelo (@DomMastrangelo1) June 7, 2023
-- Amy Entelis, EVP of talent and content development
-- Virginia Moseley, EVP of editorial
-- Eric Sherling, EVP of US programming
-- David Leavy, chief operating officer
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So, does this mean CNN will rehire all the people Licht fired?
CNN PR lead joking about mental illness to someone who's battled depression and attempted suicide.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 23, 2020
That would be me. pic.twitter.com/MFauFOztsn
Personality disorders aren’t to be exploited as a punchline with hand clap emojis in a failed Twitter dunk (especially when aimed at someone who has been open on here about the struggles he has had). Deeply irresponsible & unprofessional behavior by CNN’s head of strategic comms. https://t.co/OCjPkurcfF
— Jerry Dunleavy 🇺🇸 (@JerryDunleavy) September 23, 2020
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