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Forbes
Forbes
5 Jun 2023


the 16th annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute - Red Carpet

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 11: Chris Licht, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CNN Worldwide ... [+] attends the 16th annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural History on December 11, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for CNN)

Getty Images for CNN

CNN chief executive Chris Licht promised to “fight like hell” to win back trust among the network’s journalists and staff in the wake of a devastating profile published Friday in The Atlantic, which portrayed Licht as detached and distant, even attending a dinner with CNNers in which he didn’t talk to anyone, but focused on his phone, reading an article about himself.

“You deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world’s most trusted name in news,” Licht said on the network’s 9 a.m. ET editorial call. Former CNN Reliable Sources anchor Brian Stelter published quotes from the call on Twitter, which included an apology:

NRDC Honors Julia Louis-Dreyfus At

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 07: David Zaslav attends the NRDC's "Night of Comedy" benefit honoring ... [+] Julia Louis-Dreyfus at NeueHouse Los Angeles on June 07, 2022 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

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Stelter, writing in New York magazine, cited conversations with numerous CNNers who said the Atlantic profile “cemented” anti-Licht sentiment, with employees saying “he’s over,” “he’s done,” and “there’s no coming back from that profile.”

Licht’s Monday morning apology comes as his boss, Warner Bros. Discovery WBD CEO David Zaslav, has moved one of his top lieutenants, David Leavy, to join CNN as its new chief operating officer with a mission to “survey and repair the damage.”

Stelter reported that Licht told CNN associates over the weekend that he had “nothing to lose now” and vowed to win back the people who’ve lost confidence in his leadership. But he faces wave after wave of challenges, from the massive criticism of CNN’s recent town hall with Donald Trump to overall declines in the network’s ratings, particularly in prime time. Some CNNers have reportedly taken their concerns to former chief executive Jeff Zucker, leading to a story in The New York Times NYT asking “Could Jeff Zucker Fix CNN? He Seems to Think So.