February 26, 2022

"Under new chief Chris Licht, CNN will dial down the prime-time partisanship and double down on the network's news-gathering muscle..."

 Axios reports. 

Ratings are secondary to credibility, in the view of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who's taking over CNN.... Zaslav, at the urging of mentor John Malone, is likely to push CNN back to hard news, and away from red-hot liberal opining....

Licht was CBS' EVP of Special Programming, and, we're told he "succeeded with three very different programs" — "Late Night with Stephen Colbert," "CBS This Morning" and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe." None of that seems like hard news and the avoidance of  red-hot liberal opining, but I hope they do manage to rebuild CNN as hard news.

62 comments:

n.n said...

I suggest a separation of opinion and reporting and steering, and without the clever framing jobs. Good luck.

Sebastian said...

They can't: hard news is too hard on Dems.

rhhardin said...

There's no market for hard news. They'll have to keep soap opera or they'll have no viewers. They may claim they don't care but they do care. The newtork loss center news model died in the 70s.

Even the right uses soap opera. It's about what the crazy left has just said rather than what the hate-filled right has just said.

bobby said...

"There's no market for hard news."

How would we know?

Original Mike said...

"There's no market for hard news."

What am I, chopped liver?

And by the Copernican principle, I am not alone.

rhhardin said...

No market for hard news, think city council meetings.

Readering said...

None of those 3 shows is hard news but they are very different. The guy seems versatile.

Mike of Snoqualmie said...

If you believe CNN will become fair and balanced, I have a formerly-floating bridge across Hood Canal to sell you. You'll need scuba gear to actually use it, but that's a feature, not a bug.

Mr. T. said...

Twitchy has already busted this fake promise with an excerpt of Licht's tweets kissing Cuomo's butthole.

Original Mike said...

It would be fun watching liberal heads explode.

Michael K said...

The guy who is going to be doing the programming has a hard lefty reputation.

I'll wait and see, thank you.

Bender said...

likely to push CNN back to hard news, and away from red-hot liberal opining

To make that a reality - and one believable to viewers - they will need to fire 90 percent of their on-air staff. Sorry, but you can't just pivot Don LeMon to "hard news" and expect people to trust they are getting no-spin reporting.

Jupiter said...

Opening up a brand-new new can of Commie lies!

Jersey Fled said...

Pretty much anything they do at CNN will be an improvement.

And whatever the market there for hard news is greater than the market CNN has now.

gilbar said...

..likely to push CNN back to hard news, and away from red-hot liberal opining..

i believe this...
Just As Much as i believe the unsupported and unlinked claims made here by our left wing lefties

rcocean said...

CNN hasn't been "hard news" for 12 years. CNN used to position itself as the liberal network between crazy leftwing MSNBC and center-conservative Fox News. Then when Trump announced his run in August 2015, they decided to move to the LEFT of MSNBC.

When they fire Mr. Potato Head, I'll believe they're serious about "Hard News".

gilbar said...

rhhardin said... There's no market for hard news.

There's not much of a market for hard news.
fify!

tim in vermont said...

Democrats are tuning out the news, according to surveys. I guess they are tired of reading about their bumbling doofus POTUS, while we on the right are finding political news here in the US vastly entertaining.

It has to have been sinking into to many of the people on the left tuning out the news that they have been lied to repeatedly by people they trusted.

Not Sure said...

What's likely is that this guy's idea of hard news is the same as NPR's, with the added feature of constant GEICO ads.

curt said...

We are apparently several days into a war in Europe, and I for one have no clue what is going on, and no idea where to turn to get a clue.

tommyesq said...

Ratings are secondary to credibility, in the view of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav

As opposed to the previous boss, Zucker, for whom lack of ratings was secondary to lack of credibility.

mezzrow said...

I still say that Packard made a darned fine car.

Temujin said...

Good luck to them. I'd love an actual hard news network, but I'll never be able to watch the talking heads they've rolled out for the last few years. They could be reading my will and I'd still need to check their premises and facts.

They can get me back if they fire the lot of them, replace them with the one or two remaining respected reporters running around, and stick to news, only the news, and no freaking opinions about what's going on.

Just the facts, baby.

As Curt so correctly pointed out above, "We are apparently several days into a war in Europe, and I for one have no clue what is going on, and no idea where to turn to get a clue."

Lem the artificially intelligent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I first read that as: "Under new chef Chris Licht, CNN will dial down the prime-time partisanship and double down on the network's news-gathering muscle..."

I thought they were bringing back another Anthony Bourdain type show 😆

Bender said...

As a more general rule, if you want to know what is going on in the world, you need to turn to foreign media.

If you want to know what is going on in the United States, on the other hand, you need to turn to foreign media.

Jersey Fled said...

Believe it or not, BBC International has the best coverage I've seen so far.

MadisonMan said...

Licht will have to fire a lot of people to do this. Too many of their "talent" simply can't help themselves.

Jim at said...

Ratings are secondary to credibility, in the view of Warner Bros.

That would be oh-for-two, WB.

Skeptical Voter said...

Double down on hard news? Does that mean that they will had a second high school journalist to their hard news staff. They'll now have two reporters rather than just one?

Skeptical Voter said...

Excuse me that's "add" to the hard news staff. Two people instead of just one.

John henry said...

There's a new sheriff in town.

His name is John Malone.

Still one of CNNs largest customers through liberty cable network. Now CNNs owner too.

He's been criticizing CNN for years. Now he can do something about it.

Oh yeah, major fan & supporter of Donald trump and MAGA. Paid $1mm for the 2017 inaugural ball among other things.

Suck on it fascists. This is going to be fun. Especially going into the 2022 mid terms.

John LGBTQBNY Henry

wildswan said...

Russia has invaded. Ukraine has not surrendered. The US has disgraced itself with an offer to help the Ukrainian government run away, making it easy for Putin to take over. And there are rumors of every kind. I looked at CNN but the second video I looked at had a CNN reporter asking a soldier whether he was scared. This network could be improved a lot and it would still be awful.

gadfly said...

rcocean said...
CNN hasn't been "hard news" for 12 years. CNN used to position itself as the liberal network between crazy leftwing MSNBC and center-conservative Fox News.

"Center-conservative" Fox News. Since when? All talk is a personal attack against some democrat and slanted far-right views is where they went with Trump and there they stay. All neutral commentators have been shown the door at Fox because Trumpsters don't like them.

John henry said...

MadisonMan said...

Licht will have to fire a lot of people to do this. Too many of their "talent" simply can't help themselves

That's no fun and firing them costs money.

Make them do stories like "did President Trump cut taxes enough?

Or maybe a panel discussion on" Joe Biden's brain; vegetable of pudding?"

Or a hard hitting special on the need to subsidize AR-15s and ammo for all citizens with gun trainind in high school

Or" open borders:threat or menace?"

If they don't like those stories they can quit and go somewhere else. No severance since they quit voluntarily.

Lot's of fun to be had.

John LGBTQBNY Henry

Tell them they can either

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Jersey Fled said... [hush]​[hide comment]

Believe it or not, BBC International has the best coverage I've seen so far.

Sky News International is good too, although it's a bit pro-Zelenskyy.

Earnest Prole said...

"Ratings are secondary to credibility"? You managed to lose 80 percent of your already tiny audience by being wildly biased and partisan. Why not proceed with the assumption that credibility = ratings and fire anyone who thinks otherwise?

Big Mike said...

We shall see.

Jess said...

More hype. CNN is only a handful of investors from bankruptcy. Dredging for money with what anyone can see is panic is the last effort to survive. They won't.

Caligula said...

Since “Ratings are secondary to credibility” it must just be coincidence that CNN is tinkering with its ‘news’ product only now that its ratings have collapsed and show no sign they’ll ever recover?

This seems a classic, “I was lying then but now I speak only truth!” statement. For CNN official statements about anything, but especially about its own credibility, have no credibility.

Dave Begley said...

Fire Jim Acosta, John Berman, Anderson Cooper, Don Lemon, Jake Tapper and many others. Personnel is policy.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

so stelter would need to go... for starters.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

It's hilarious to listen to leftists and their never-ceasing bitch-fest against Fox.

they have the rest of the D-hack press.

CNNNBCMSNBCABVNYTPBSWAPOO... but FOOOOOX! whaaaaa.

Michael K said...

All neutral commentators have been shown the door at Fox because Trumpsters don't like them.

Hilarious. Lefties at Fox left for greener pastures. At least they looked greener. Chris Wallace isn't talking. Shepherd Smith went off somewhere that he thought was more sympathetic to the left.

Lurker21 said...


The hiring pool is solidly Democrat and at least liberal, if not progressive, so there's still going to be a spin, and they aren't going to be hard on Biden for fear that opens the door to Trump or the Republicans. Still, I do remember that they weren't always so partisan.

A lot depends on whether there's enough "hard news" plus visuals out there. CNN thrived on our Middle East Wars, and if the world is becoming a more dangerous place, it will help them. If it's just reporting on Congress and the White House and domestic politics, I don't think the "hard news" and "less biased" model will hold up.

hawkeyedjb said...

"Russia has invaded. Ukraine has not surrendered. The US has disgraced itself with an offer to help the Ukrainian government run away..."

Zelensky: I don't need a ride, I need ammunition.

Biden: How about some ice cream?

Iman said...

Too late, no interest. Leopard… spots… and all.

rehajm said...

I don’t think CNN or its sugar daddies are motivated by profit. It’s been about influence for quite some time. You can’t influence if nobody’s watching and if nobody’s watching because you’re all leftie propaganda…

…better to fool some people into coming back before 2024 rolls around. What better way than to claim the switch to straight news…

Mid-Life Lawyer said...

I don't believe it. It's reality shows all the way down. It may be a reality show about returning to hard news, but it's still a reality show.

Earth2PowerGirl said...

One of their leads loudly proclaimed to the world that Nick Sandmann had a punchable face.

Why on *earth* would I go back to a network that put an innocent kid in danger? Answer me that.

("They've changed.")

Rapists can change. I wouldn't date one, even if reformed.

Joe Smith said...

The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River.

Quaestor said...

The near future:

NEWLY HIRED CNN ON-AIR PERSONALITY: Good evening, here are tonight's hard news headlines -- RUSSIA, RUSSIA, TRUMP, RUSSIA, TRUMP, TRUMP, INSURRECTION, TRUMP, TRUMP!!

Thank you, good night, and remember, TRUMP FRAMED HILLARY, TRUMP.

wendybar said...

So once again, a progressive who hates half of America.. CNN will continue to suck and tank.

JAORE said...

The new CNN will toss aside partisanship.
Our (relatively) new POTUS will work to unite all Americans.

At least 30 percent will buy both statements.

Tina Trent said...

Was there ever a golden age of unbiased, serious reporting at CNN? Because the comedy Anchorman is actually a pretty good depiction of the birth of the Ted's brand.

Tina Trent said...

The lefties who left Fox would get down on their knees to get back in. There's only a short honeymoon. Then it's a quick trip to humiliation central, RT. Sorta like National Review.

PM said...

As if, in 70pt type.

Christopher B said...

@Tina, I dunno about 'golden age of unbiased' but they certainly weren't worse than the (at the time) Big 3 networks between about 1980 and 2004, and actually did a lot of good reporting when events unfolded over a long time span pre-Internet, like the Gulf War and the 2000 Florida vote controversy. I put the inflection point at Hurricane Katrina coverage in 2005. After being unable to defeat W in 2004 despite efforts up to and including the Texas ANG/Rathergate episode, CNN and the rest of the news media seemed to go crazy with wildly overblown reports of Katrina, reporting on rapes and violence in the SuperDome and snipers shooting at cops and rescuers that never happened, throwing anything at W and hoping it would stick. After that it was eight years of slobbering over Obama's knob, and then the blatant but unsuccessful effort to coronate Hillary which resulted in a spiral around the bowl of Russia Russia Russia and various other hoaxes.

Zev said...

I'll believe it when I see it.

FIDO said...

I'll believe it when I see it. Except I won't see it since I have not just tuned them out but turned them off. Once they lost folks like me as a customer, how exactly do they get me back?

Tina Trent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tina Trent said...

Christopher: many women were raped in the Superdome. Interracial and not. I had a close friend who had both kneecaps shot out by thugs there for no reason, too. Fuck your denial politics. Do they make you feel fuzzy and warm? Asshole liberal denialist. They moved the gangs to Clarksville and Englewood in Atlanta and those animals brought their wars with them. Luckily, the nearest actual refugees to my neighborhood were Chechen, and they scared the piss out of those dumbass and stupid Louisiana gangsters. In my job then I had to coordinate voting centers for them to elect their new mayor in New Orleans I carried weapons. Because I had to.

I assume lefty pajama boys like you lack such experience. So just shut up.