Happy Wednesday, I’m Dylan Byers.

Welcome back to In The Room, my biweekly private email revealing the inner workings of the media industry. Tonight, a deeper look at Chris Licht’s Stelter sacrifice—including some details from their private meeting—and what it portends for the future of CNN.

Stelter, a veteran media reporter-turned-cable news broadcaster, who has a keen understanding of the industry that he both operates in and covers, was likely crestfallen when CNN chairman and C.E.O. Chris Licht told him he would be forced to leave the network. But he couldn’t have been wholly surprised, either. Stelter was surely savvy enough to know that his reputation as an occasionally sanctimonious media watchdog, who regularly railed against Trump and Fox News, didn’t align with the new parent company’s mandate to steer the network away from polarizing programming and liberal bias. He was probably also on edge about the fact that, according to several sources, he had a hard time getting a meeting with Licht during the first weeks of the new boss’s tenure—even as Licht was meeting regularly with other on-air talent. And indeed, two sources told me, Stelter had been told several weeks before his ouster that Reliable Sources might be on the chopping block. (Stelter declined a request for an interview.)

Officially, the rationale for canceling Reliable Sources, the longest running program on CNN, has gone through several permutations during the last two weeks. Sources with knowledge of Licht and Stelter’s meeting say the CNN chief told the outgoing host that the network didn’t need a show exclusively focused on the media. That line was also shared with me by CNN spokesperson Matt Dornic, who nevertheless said that CNN was “going to build out our media team.” Meanwhile, in an unexpected interview with the progressive pundit and former cabinet secretary Robert Reich a week after Stelter’s ouster, Licht said he “loved” Stelter but the show “didn’t make sense on Sundays.”

There are, of course, six other days in a week, including Saturday. And yet Stelter, who briefly hosted a daily show on CNN+, was offered no other time slot, sources familiar with the matter told me. Nor was Stelter offered the opportunity to stay on at the network as a correspondent or contributor. Notably, the Reich interview accounts for the CNN C.E.O.’s only public remarks on Stelter’s exit. It’s peculiar that he would share these extemporaneous thoughts on a former Clinton official’s Substack, of all places. The official statement about his departure came not from Licht but from Amy Entelis, CNN’s E.V.P. for Talent, not Licht, itself either a brutal shiv or a gracious P.R. toe-in-the-mouse-trap.

There’s actually not much reason to whisper: Malone’s influence is public record. And his recent comments to the Times, in which he said he had “nothing to do with” Stelter’s cancellation and was “not in control or directly involved,” are also arguably just an admission of his indirect influence.

Neither Malone nor Zaslav needed to tell Licht what to do or who to fire, because Malone’s publicly stated mandate to depolarize CNN made such decisions obvious. As one veteran media executive put it, Licht is “following orders and plays that were called before he was even hired.” That’s unpleasant stuff, but it’s why these jobs pay so well. (In the Reich interview, Licht also denies canceling the show because of political pressure from Malone. Licht did not respond to my request for his perspective on Stelter’s ouster.)

The playbook is governed, of course, by Zaslav’s view of CNN as a “reputational asset” in the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio—and, specifically, a news network with a reputation for straightforward journalism catering to Democrats and Republicans alike. Hence Licht’s effort to court Republican lawmakers and include more conservative perspectives on the network’s panels. But a brand’s reputation is also determined by myriad parties, and often most effectively by critics. In CNN’s case that includes Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity and the hosts of The Five, who cherry-pick the most alarmist and sanctimonious snippets on CNN and then run them on autoplay, with their own self-serving and often bogus commentary, for a far greater audience.

In trying to reposition CNN as a non-polarizing network, the most obvious sacrificial lambs may be the ones who are directly in the critics’ crosshairs. I’m told Licht actually gave Stelter the opportunity to do two more episodes of his show, instead of one—but who would want to afford Carlson or Hannity the opportunity to bask in an extra week of Stelter bashing?

The downside, of course, is that Licht has once again left CNN employees anxious and fearful about the future. Perhaps that is unavoidable, but it remains inevitably true. Producers are quick to note that, as with the axing of CNN+, the Reliable Sources team will not be folded into another show or department. So what happens to the team behind the next show that gets canned? On the talent side, there’s much speculation about who else is bound for the altar. Don Lemon, a primetime star frequently in Fox News’s crosshairs, is very safe at the network, I’m reliably told. Well-placed sources are less optimistic about the futures of others who built their personal brands by going to war with Trump, such as Brianna Keilar and Jim Acosta. (Dornic declined to comment “on speculation about individual anchors and talent.”)

As I wrote earlier this month, Licht’s tenure thus far at CNN has been defined far less by his own bold moves than his ardent de-Zuckerification: taming chyrons, bringing on a lot of token Republicans (many of which make for anodyne television, by the way, in the roundtable this-side-now-that-side format), and finally, Stelter. This fall, Licht will ostensibly add his true imprint on the network via, as it is presumed, a revamped morning show, and by finally picking an heir to Cuomo at 9 p.m. If he nails those moves, the complexities of his early months will be an asterisk on a remarkable stewardship. If the morning, which long vexed Zucker, doesn’t work, or if an unforced error hurts prime time, it’s another story.

Zaz has Licht’s back, make no mistake about it. But Licht has been able to run the network with a light touch—rebooking, tweaking, playing some musical chairs—largely because it was so successful under Zucker. What happens if it isn’t anymore?