The seeming self-destruction of CNN, brought about by its hard-left lurch during the Trump presidency and subsequent collapse of trust, was thought to be over as new ownership and leadership promised a more balanced approach to reporting on the news.
However, insiders are saying the troubles are far from over. New reporting by Fox News Digital suggests that plenty of “rank-and-file” holdouts are making life difficult for Jeffrey Zucker’s replacement, CEO Chris Licht. Licht had repeatedly said his goal was to overhaul the awful partisan hackery that plagued CNN under Zucker’s anti-Trump tenure and return it to more trustworthy prominence.
“America needs a news network where everybody can come and be heard; Republicans, Democrats,” Licht’s boss, Warner Brothers Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in an interview last year. Moving forward with that directive, Licht eviscerated his primetime lineup, sending Chris Cuomo and Brian Stelter packing and demoting Don Lemon to an early-hours morning show. Other “talent” like Jeffrey Toobin were also dismissed.
“There are people who don’t seem to get that the Jeff-era CNN isn’t even possible,” a CNN insider said to Fox, suggesting that even after a year since Zucker’s own firing and departure from the network there are still people who refuse to accept their network is seeking change.
The insider went on, saying there are plenty of staff “refusing to acknowledge their world isn’t real and getting angry at anyone who challenges it.”
“I think most of the anchors have woken up, it’s the rank and file,” the CNN source said. “And it’s not even about Jeff. It’s more the era.”
Making this revelation hilarious is the fact that the staff, later reported by Fox as well, were distraught over the massive layoffs encountered last fall. And yet, they want to remain married to the Zucker culture that pushed insane woke ideology and percolated in raging Trump Derangement Syndrome during working hours. That latter caused the calamitous collapse of the network, thus necessitating the layoffs in the first place.
Truly, leftists do not live in reality.
“They feel like they had direction with Zucker. He was a micromanager,” another CNN insider shared. “He’d look at ratings every five minutes. He was very hands-on with booking guests. Chris Licht is a bit more hands off. For whatever reason, the rank and file at CNN appreciate Jeff Zucker’s approach to leadership.”
“Life was easier for many of them under Jeff and Warner Media,” chimed in the first insider again. “They had someone telling them exactly what to do, and they got paid well to do it. Licht expects people of that caliber to do incredible work without him micromanaging.”
Again delving into the corrupted psyche of CNN’s employees, they were apparently mortified to learn that much of America doesn’t view them as impartial truthtellers but instead sees them as the activist hacks they are.
“I love all the people at CNN, but journalists, reporters and analysts truly believe they are impartial and they are appalled to think they are viewed as left-leaning,” the second CNN insider offered. “They were aghast at the thought they did anything less than fair and balanced.”
One of the insiders offered his praise of Licht, but admitted it’s been rocky from the get-go and does not appear to be easing up.
Fox wrote of Licht’s tumultuous start:
Licht wasn’t given a honeymoon period when he joined CNN, which had suffered a devastating blow just days prior with the implosion of its streaming service CNN+, something that was developed during the Zucker era and was meant to be part of the ex-boss’s long-lasting legacy at the network.
“One source said a “big source of contention” among staffers was when CNN was hit with layoffs in November after they were told by Licht in June he didn’t anticipate such job cuts. Another insider at the time said morale had collapsed at the network.,” Fox added.
"*" indicates required fields