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A Licht in the Attic

In the last 72 hours, at least twenty CNN employees (on-air talent, rank-and-file staff, and more) have called or texted me, many of them unsolicited, to convey that things have never been worse.

chris licht
Licht arrived at CNN with an ace reputation as a great news producer, and yet he swiftly made a series of decisions that confounded many industry insiders. Photo: Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
November 2, 2022

When Chris Licht was named chairman and chief executive of CNN, some mere eight months ago, he told employees that his boss, David Zaslav, had given him “one simple directive: to ensure that CNN remains the global leader in NEWS.” The mandate, with its all-caps emphasis on “news,” was actually more nuanced than Licht suggested, and contained within it the seeds of the Zaz-Lichtian thesis for what CNN should be, and what it shouldn’t.