It came as a shock to those both outside and within CNN when top boss Jeff Zucker announced he was resigning effective immediately on Tuesday because, according to him, he did not disclose he was having a personal relationship with a subordinate. Though there are rumblings there is more to the story over why he stepped down, even with taking the story at face value, reporters and anchors at CNN came to Zucker's defense.
The day the story broke, Alisyn Camerota said on air: "I feel it deeply personally, but also, I think I speak for all of us and our colleagues. This is an incredible loss. It’s an incredible loss. Jeff is a remarkable person and an incredible leader. He has this uncanny ability to make, I think, every one of us feel special and valuable in our own way even though he is managing an international news organization of thousands of people. I just know that he had this unique ability to make us feel special."
Within CNN, their love for Zucker, who oversaw CNN as its ratings dipped to all-time lows, had not gone away.
"Everyone here is heartbroken and shocked," one staffer said, according to Politico. "People are blaming this on Chris. Not a lot of love between CNN and Chris Cuomo for a while."
Politico further reported talent such as Kaitlan Collins, Jake Tapper, Jim Acosta and others did not hold back in their questions towards Jason Kilar, the CEO of CNN’s parent company when Kilar held in-person meetings after Zucker stepped down.
"Talking about ‘what you do everyday’ — Jeff is a very critical part of that," one CNN White House reporter said. "If you listen to the 9 a.m. calls, if you talk to anyone in this room … that’s how they feel."
Tapper said it felt like the "bad guy," (former anchor Chris Cuomo) was winning in this situation.
Kilar responded: "When it comes to perception, all I can offer you, Jake, is every minute of every day, we’ve got what’s on the screens behind you. I believe that’s what’s going to define us going forward far more than what’s happened today."
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) February 3, 2022
Collins also pressed Kilar on the process behind Zucker's resignation.
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) February 3, 2022
Q: Did an outside law firm recommend you fire Jeff?
A: "I’m not going to go into the details of the interchange of the outside firm and the body of work that was shared with us."
Apparently, Zucker's relationship with Allison Gollust, who will remain at CNN, was an open secret and started sooner than Zucker claimed in his message to the company. Who would have guessed CNN's president would have not been "Facts First" about the reason he was stepping down?