CNN chief executive officer Chris Licht announced there will be impending layoffs in a campaign to cut costs and bolster viewership at the failing news network.
The announcement was made this Tuesday in a town hall meeting with staffers, where Licht detailed the substantial downsizing.
Licht claimed that teams within CNN who were not essential to the “core mission” of the company would likely see their jobs terminated.
The executive insinuated the firings will be announced in early December where employees would be given 60 to 90 days notice.
In October of this year, Licht also gave a similar warning to employees:
”I have spent the last six months meeting so many of you and diving deep into every corner of the company to understand how you do the incredible work CNN produces every day, how we’re structured, and defining our top priorities. As many of you know, I have also spent much of that time doing formal business reviews with senior staff to identify areas where we should make changes, investments, and reductions to match our future priorities.”
“…There is a lot more to be done. I am writing to you today to say that over the next several weeks, that work will accelerate. There is widespread concern over the global economic outlook, and we must factor that risk into our long-term planning. All this together will mean noticeable change to this organization. That, by definition, is unsettling. These changes will not be easy because they will affect people, budgets, and projects.”
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These announcements are a much different tune than what Licht had claimed earlier this year. In June, he asserted there would be no mass layoffs at CNN.
The woke network has seen their ratings tank over the past year, hemorrhaging millions of viewers. CNN has seen viewership in its key demographic ranges drop nearly 70%.
According to the New York Post:
“In August, Fox News dominated with nine shows making the top 10 highest-rated cable news shows. Only MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow eked out a fifth-place ranking with 2.7 million viewers, lagging behind Fox’s “The Five” (3.4 million), “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (3.3 million), “Hannity” (2.9 million) and “Jesse Watters Primetime” (2.9 million).”
It has become clear whatever the woke news company was pushing, viewers aren’t having it. Instead, Fox News has been crushing the cable news market.
According to Fox News Digital:
“Fox News Channel finished October as the most-watched cable network among total day viewers for the 20th straight month, crushing CNN and MSNBC viewership combined among key categories.
Fox News averaged 1.5 million total day viewers, while no other networks cracked the one-million viewer benchmark. ESPN finished second with 885,000 average total viewers, followed by 751,000 for MSNBC and a gloomy 533,000 for CNN.”
Amid this ratings collapse and other scandals, former CEO Jeff Zucker resigned under pressure to be succeeded by Licht.
The woke, nonsensical “orange man bad” narrative that was pushed on every single piece of programming at CNN was losing its popularity and destroying the network.
Therefore, Licht’s goal was to restructure the company and shift the programming toward nonpartisan, centrist reporting.
This has led to the firing or demoting of many CNN veterans such as Brian Stelter, Don Lemon, and Jim Acosta.
Hopefully, the news network will return to real journalism instead of leftist nonsense.
-Macro Conservative