Devastating profile dogs CNN boss Chris Licht
Chris Licht speaks onstage during the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront in Manhattan in May. Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Chris Licht, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, felt so confident in his plan to reinvent cable news that he allowed extraordinary, months-long access to a magazine writer. The result is devastating.
Why it matters: The Atlantic's Tim Alberta paints a brutal portrait of the head of one of the world's most famous, consequential and profitable brands — in what's destined to become an iconic magazine profile.
Alberta, who wrote the piece, and Puck's Dylan Byers, a very wired regular on the CNN beat, report that Licht has lost the support of CNN staff and perhaps the man who matters most — his boss, David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery.
How it happened: Two sources familiar with the negotiations tell Axios that Alberta pitched the story a year ago, and said he was writing with or without cooperation. CNN said no initially, but Alberta kept pushing.
Here are the six parts of Alberta's 15,000-word piece, "Inside the Meltdown at CNN," that are causing the biggest backlash:
Zaslav declined to meet with Alberta on the record for the profile, but said in a statement that "we have great confidence in the progress that Chris and the team are making and share their conviction in the strategy."
Why it matters: Alberta, How it happened: Here are the six parts Town hall debacle: Lost the room: Bad judgment on big moves: Obsessed with press Obsessed with his predecessor, Jeff Zucker: Mocks his own staff's Zucker-era COVID coverage: Zaslav declined