Chris Licht Doesn’t Want to be “Vanilla”
I’ve never met Chris Licht, but it is hard to believe that the man who was showrunner at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for six years, a show with one of the edgier late-night opening sketches in the business, could be doing as poorly as he’s doing right now navigating the choppy waters at CNN. For a man firmly affixed at the upper echelons of The Media Firmament, he has not handled public opinion with the expected aplomb, despite coming from such a beloved property and along with his bona fides as a real mensch in rescuing the CBS Morning Show. Why has such an accomplished, swell fellow like Licht appears to be been seen recently floundering in media purgatory?
Licht's Establishmentarian embrace of the vision of Warner’s chief executive David Zaslav and his mentor, onetime Trump donor and libertarian bigmouth, John Malone, to extinguish “leftist advocacy” on the channel was, in retrospect, just a tad too thirsty. At least for him; at least so soon. And especially after dropping Brian Stelter, the conscience of the network, earlier this summer, for being too opinionated about the fragility of American democracy. I mean, how dare a journo push back against election deniers! It ultimately made Licht look like a lackey, like a yappy dog trying to please his human handlers, erasing much of the goodwill that he carried over from his work at Colbert through the Trump years.
Further, impending job cuts by year’s end — and through the holiday season — has not endeared him to the newsroom. Let’s face it, the immediate future looks bleak for CNN as viewer numbers continue to fall. “CNN’s profit is set to drop below $1 billion this year for the first time since 2016, when Donald Trump was elected president,” Alex Sherman writes for CNBC.com. “Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery ’s valuation has nearly been cut in half this year as investors have lowered their expectations on global streaming subscriber growth and macroeconomic pressures have pressured advertising revenue.” Hence: job cuts.
To be fair, the problems didn’t all begin with Licht. His predecessor, Jeff “Falling Upwards” Zucker, defied media business gravity for years. Ultimately, however, he mishandled the Chris Cuomo firing about how to address sexual misconduct allegations against his own brother, the Governor of New York, and, immediately following, resigned due to his own sexual relationship with Allison Gollust, his key lieutenant for the last two decades of his tenure. Mirroring Zucker’s downfall, the ratings began to tank at CNN. And here we are today …
Licht did an interview with FT this week and wanted to stress the fact that the media narrative of him as wholly lacking in edge is false. He just wants to take out the pro-democracy part that libertarians — like his boss, billionaire John Malone — think is Communist-ish. He didn’t sell out! He bought in!!
From the FT story:
Some opinion would remain, but with a markedly different tone. “One of the biggest misconceptions about my vision is that I want to be vanilla, that I want to be centrist. That is bullshit,” Licht told the Financial Times. “You have to be compelling. You have to have edge. In many cases you take a side. Sometimes you just point out uncomfortable questions. But either way you don’t see it through a lens of left or right.” Colleagues later noted one curious aspect to the board briefing. Licht faced no financial interrogation, according to people familiar with the meeting. Zaslav, Malone and Newhouse made it plain: the numbers were secondary to rebuilding a brand they saw as tarnished by left-leaning advocacy that became more pronounced in the Trump years. They wanted it fixed, and they were full-square behind Licht.
The problem with this is that the Malones of the world see CNN’s pro-democratic advocacy, though not as pronounced as MSNBC’s, as a weakness. Not something to lean into and, say, refine. The Malone-Libertarians see the the defense of democracy as “left-leaning advocacy.” And so does Licht, although he tried to thread the needle and not be so obviously the hatchet man. Or, at least, try not to appear to be the bad guy doing the biddings of the billionaire corporate class.
Climb on, social mountaineer of the week: CNN’s Chris Licht!
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