The CNN workforce is unlikely to wish the difficult days of the first Covid year back. But back then things were going really well for the permanent news channel for a long time. In 2020 he was the big winner in the American cable TV world after many years of stagnation. In the pandemic, the left-wing station was suddenly able to increase its reach, and even double it among those under 50. Suddenly it seemed conceivable to catch up with the industry leader Fox News with its right-wing, aging audience.
In the meantime, the mood has turned. As Fox News continues to grow, CNN’s viewership has been in free fall for months, long since falling to #3, behind MSNBC programming.
But the broadcaster can hardly react because it is mainly occupied with internal quarrels. First he had to fire his star Chris Cuomo, who not only analyzed politics in front of the camera, but also whispered advice to his brother and former New York governor. When the affair was processed, it was also revealed that CNN boss Jeff Zucker was in a relationship with an employee. He too had to go.
Chris Licht wanted the station to be realigned, “objective journalism” should be seen again
However, things are no less turbulent under the new boss Chris Licht, six months after he took office. When it started, Licht wrote to the workforce that they had to regain the trust of the public with a reorientation. Licht wants to get away from the image of the “Clinton News Network,” as Donald Trump likes to call it. The former president was always harshly criticized on CNN, and his deselection was hailed in the program as “the end of a national nightmare”. Now “objective journalism” should be seen on the station again, demanded Licht.
Chris Licht, the new boss of CNN, wrote to the workforce when he started, demanding that they regain the trust of the audience.
(Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Exactly what the new boss means by that is anything but clear. He wanted to make CNN “a place for fair and respectful dialogue, analysis and debate,” explained Licht to the leaders of the two parties during their inaugural visits to the Capitol. Other media noted not only that it is unusual for a CEO to try to persuade politicians to pay their respects to their network, but also that he met more Republicans than Democrats.
Meanwhile, Licht has made it clear that part of his newfound fairness appears to be throwing out prominent journalists. He stopped Brian Stelter’s media show at the end of August, and a few days later John Harwood surprisingly took the hat. The high-profile White House correspondent described Trump as a “demagogue” one last time on CNN before leaving the network, two years before his contract expired and without a new job.
Calls for a boycott on social media were also fueled by an alleged U-turn by star presenter Brianna Keilar. She had made a name for being tough on Trump’s people. But now she was suddenly criticizing Joe Biden, and of all things for a speech that was a dire warning of Trump’s danger to American democracy. Keilar pointed out that Biden had Marines and their band accompany him during his prime-time speech, saying he was breaking the convention of letting party politics rest on such occasions. The armed forces could only be used for ceremonial, but never for political appearances, because they would have to be completely non-political.
Despite its youthful audience, CNN missed out on getting into the streaming business
Opinions on the left were soon made: CNN shifts to the right. It also didn’t sit well in the White House, which had become accustomed to CNN’s benevolent reporting, as evidenced by a series of tweets from Joe Biden’s chief of staff. David Zaslav, the CEO of the media empire Discovery, which has been called Warner Discovery since April because it absorbed the parent company of CNN, is suspected to be behind the change. Zaslav denies having any influence on the station’s political orientation, and Licht also asserts that he is only interested in “objective journalism”.
The excited debate shows that the new boss does have a point. Biden’s speech about the dangers to US democracy could certainly be described as objective. However, the way in which he presented them and mixed them with current political issues was a transgression that was not only perceived as such by Republicans and was criticized in several liberal media. The excitement surrounding CNN’s coverage, however, appears to be at least as big as the channel’s programming.
John Harwood, one of the stars of CNN (here 2019), has left the network. Not without calling Trump a “demagogue” again on his last show.
(Photo: Bob Daemmrich /ZUMA Wire)
How exactly CNN finds a new way of reporting without becoming irrelevant is Licht’s secret so far. The channel has potential, particularly with younger viewers, but cable TV is a declining market and CNN reaches a more limited audience than CBS, the number one terrestrial broadcaster. CNN missed out on entering the promising streaming business, despite the relatively young audience.
After just a month, Licht discontinued CNN+, its predecessor’s prestige project. Simply pulling out a few left teeth on the transmitter isn’t enough; Licht now has to prove quickly that he has a promising vision for the future to offer. He can console himself with the fact that the competition isn’t doing much better either. MSNBC, another left-leaning station, is also shrinking, just a little more slowly.