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CNN Worldwide chairman and CEO Chris Licht addressed the bombshell profile in The Atlantic in comments to network staffers on Monday, telling them, “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you.”

The New York Times.“I gave them a gun, and they shot me with it,” Zucker said, according to those sources.Zucker’s abrupt resignation in February 2022 put a spotlight on Gollust, his longtime lieutenant and the network’s chief marketing officer. Gollust, who had worked with Zucker for decades and rejoined CNN in 2013 as his “closest colleague,” had been identified as the woman with whom he had a “consensual relationship,” which he didn’t disclose to CNN owner at the time, AT&T, in apparent violation of company policies.Gollust resigned two weeks after Zucker’s ouster and following a WarnerMedia investigation into Chris Cuomo and his efforts to help his brother, former New York Gov.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN chief Chris Licht told staffers Monday he wants to help them make the news rather than being a central figure in it. In the wake of a devastating profile of the CNN CEO published Friday by The Atlantic, Licht set about soothing frayed nerves Monday by telling employees on the news outlet’s regular morning call that “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about,” according to two people familiar with the matter, The words are the first from Licht to be made public since the piece was unveiled. Thanks to a rich vein of unfettered access provided over months, the piece detailed the executive’s struggles — and some of his insecurities — during his first year on the job at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet. David Zaslav, the CEO of the parent company, has articulated a strategy of eliminating some of the activist bent that resounded at CNN under its previous chief, Jeff Zucker. But Licht’s efforts to do so have been plagued by near-constant leaks and a restive staff, many of whom remain loyal to Licht’s predecessor, ousted after he admitted to a longstanding relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s former chief marketing officer.

Twitter thread by the network’s former chief media correspondent Brian Stelter. According to the profile, Licht told former president Donald Trump to “have fun” during his town hall on the network in May and knew that the crowd’s makeup skewed more towards MAGA enthusiasts than the “GOP-leaning independents” CNN originally claimed would occupy these seats.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav weighed in on CNN’s controversial decision to host a live town-hall format Q&A with former President Donald Trump — defending the decision as needing to represent “both sides.” “The U.S. has a divided government. We need to hear both voices,” Zaslav said, speaking Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked about Trump’s scheduled May 10 appearance on CNN. “Republicans are on the air on CNN, Democrats are on the air… When we do politics, we need to represent both sides. I think it’s important for America.” Zaslav continued about Trump, “He’s the front-runner — he has to be on our network. We’re happy he’s coming on there.”

Donald Trump will make his first appearance on CNN in many years next week, when he appears in a town hall event sponsored by the network.

reported the news. By Friday, Quadrani had exited the network.Though concerns about Quadrani had reportedly been surfaced prior to the evidence making its way to Tapper, evidence had never been significant enough to take action.A CNN spokesperson declined to comment.

Former CNN and NBCUniversal boss Jeff Zucker, private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners and Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments have formalized plans for a joint venture.

Michael Bass, EVP of programming at CNN, is leaving the network at the end of the year.

Jeff Zucker, who left WarnerMedia last February just before its merger with Discovery, is in discussions with RedBird Capital to lead a $1 billion sports investment fund backed by the private equity outfit.

who was fired from CNN over his role in advising his older brother throughout a slew of sexual misconduct scandals — signaled that he did the series of fluffy TV chats on his 9 p.m. show at the behest of his former boss, Jeff Zucker.“This idea that Chris Cuomo had no boss, Chris Cuomo did as he liked when he liked how he liked — these are people who don’t know our business,” Cuomo said in an interview with podcast “On with Kara Swisher.” “Did I think that they should be considered a conflict of interest? Ab initio, inherently all day long,” he continued.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Jake Tapper, Laura Coates and Alisyn Camerota will take on temporary assignments on CNN’s primetime schedule as the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network prepares to cover the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections. Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent, will host the network’s 9 p.m. from Washington, while Camerota and Laura Coates will share anchor responsibilities between 10 p.m. and midnight. Tapper is the first anchor to get a semi-regular perch at 9 since the much-scrutinized departure of the time slot’s previous occupant, Chris Cuomo. Camerota. who has held down slots in both the morning and the afternoon, and Coates, a legal analyst who has in thepast been under consideration for a primetime assignment, will take over a time period that has been led by Don Lemon, who is moving soon to work on a new CNN morning program.

CNN president Chris Licht has hired his first big on-air personalities — John Miller and Dr. Rara Narula — since succeeding Jeff Zucker in April with the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger.John Miller will join CNN as Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst. Miller comes from the most recent position of NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counterterrorism.

John Miller as CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. Miller most recently served as the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism.Prior to that, he worked as a correspondent for CBS News and ABC News, where he landed a rare interview with Osama bin Laden in 1998.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor When Brian Stelter signed off from the last installment of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” Aug. 21, the number of mainstream vehicles analyzing an increasingly confusing media industry shrank even further.  Stelter bid farewell the same day Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan ended her run — asking such notables as Carl Bernstein and Jeffrey Goldberg on air whether the press is doing enough to cover topics ranging from disinformation to climate change. The lead story of his hour was a dire one: his program’s own cancellation after three decades. “It’s going to be on you to hold CNN accountable,” Stelter told viewers in the show’s waning moments, later adding: “The free world needs a reliable source.” 

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCNN sure likes to keep ’em guessing.After canceling media-affairs show “Reliable Sources,” which often tilted at the content of Fox News Channel, CNN plans to air a previously-announced documentary mini-series about that network’s owners.“The Murdochs: Empire of Influence,” a seven-part documentary series previously planned for the now-scuttled streaming site CNN+, will debut on CNN”s flagship cable outlet in the fall. The original series will debut with a two-episode premiere on Sunday, September 25.The series was produced with The New York Times and Left/Right and is based on the New York Times Magazine article “How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World,” by journalists Jonathan Mahler and Jim Rutenberg. They serve as consulting producers on the series. The program aims to examine the rise of Rupert Murdoch, his global influence and the battle for succession among his children. In an announcement about the series in February, CNN said the series “charts the high-stakes deal making, political maneuvering and dynastic betrayals — and how the ambitions of one family birthed one of the largest media empires in history.”

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAnd now some news about the news program that covers the news.“Reliable Sources,” the media-news program that has been on CNN since 1993, is the latest piece of content to go on the chopping block under the cost-cutting regime of Warner Bros. Discovery.

After over two decades on CNN and an exposing 2020 digital scandal Jeffrey Toobin is leaving CNN.

Vanity Fair profile, the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” and her new team at Endeavor Talent Agency were actively seeking new opportunities for her career as recently as last year. Maddow and Endeavor president Mark Shapiro were reportedly taking meetings with the likes of Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, Showtime, CNN and others through summer 2021, ultimately turning down offers from the likes of CNN’s then-president Jeff Zucker and a lucrative opportunity with SiriusXM.Per Vanity Fair:There was a much bigger opportunity on the table: SiriusXM was poised to offer Maddow closer to $40 million plus a first-look deal, sources told me.

As soap fans reel from the news that Days Of Our Lives will no longer be airing on NBC, Us Weekly is breaking down everything you need to know about how to watch your favorite soap operas.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorAfter a long and much-publicized interruption, Chris Cuomo wants to get after it again.Cuomo, who made that phrase the mission statement for his 9 p.m. program on CNN, is taking his bulldog demeanor and lean-in anchoring style to NewsNation, the still-nascent news outlet backed by large station owner Nexstar Media, which has in recent months made a series of acquisitions aimed at bolstering its presence in the media sector.

Kris Coratti Kelly is joining CNN Worldwide as executive vice president and head of global communications.

Chris Cuomo reportedly tried to make a drastic career change after being let go from CNN.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterSUN VALLEY, Idaho — David Zaslav was upbeat as he arrived in Sun Valley, Idaho on Tuesday for Allen & Co.’s gathering of business media and tech moguls. The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO had kind words for Netflix and “Stranger Things,” and he told reporters that he expects the annual summit to be “a great week” amid “a lot of turmoil in the business.”Zaslav indicated that Warner Bros.

She said she told former former CNN President Jeff Zucker she was going to leave back in January.

Mediaite reported Thursday.Reason: The term adopts “branding” favored by the Democratic Party.Licht expressed a “preference” for the adjustment after someone on a Tuesday conference call with management and producers asked his opinion on Trump’s “Big Lie,” Mediaite said – adding that staffers “have taken it as a clear directive from the new boss” nonetheless.CNN and CNN staffers did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.Mediaite said Licht encouraged producers to instead use “Trump election lie” or “election lies” in chyrons and elsewhere. CNN staff is expected to gather Thursday for its first town hall since Licht took over at the end of February.Mediaite spoke to one CNN staffer who said some staff were rankled by the perceived “Big Lie” directive, and speculated that it may be coming from a board member at newly merged parent company Warner Bros.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorA second senior CNN executive who was deeply involved in the launch of the company’s CNN+ streaming-video hub is set to leave the company.In a memo to staffers delivered Wednesday, CNN CEO Chris Licht said Alex MacCallum, who had been named interim chief of CNN’s digital operations, was planning to leave the Warner Bros. Discovery unit on June 30. Wendy Brundige, senior vice president of global digital video, will take over the role of interim chief.

Axios.And if not? There’s the door, Axios reported, citing three people familiar with the matter.New CNN boss Chris Licht, whose predecessor Jeff Zucker is largely responsible for CNN turning hard-left at the outset of the Trump administration, wants to give the brand’s existing faces the chance to try out its more nuanced, facts-based approach to doing the news.“For on-air talent, that includes engaging in respectful interviews that don’t feel like PR stunts,” Axios wrote. “For producers and bookers, that includes making programming decisions that are focused on nuance, not noise.”CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.Axios said CNN isn’t going to “shy away” from personality programming – those partisan voices just won’t dominate the way had in the era of Zucker, who was ousted from the network over a longstanding consensual relationship with a co-worker.Licht, who most recently was the longtime showrunner of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS, took over last month.

NEW YORK -- Chris Wallace will host a Sunday night interview show for CNN starting this fall, the network said Wednesday in announcing a new home for the best-known personality from the since-imploded CNN+ streaming service.“Look Who's Talking to Chris Wallace,” which will also air on HBO Max, was the program he was doing for CNN+ before new corporate owners Warner Bros. Discovery shut the service down after only a month.Wallace, formerly of Fox News Channel, has made some appearances on the television network, including on primary coverage Tuesday night.Actor Eva Longoria, who had also signed up for the streaming service, will do a series for CNN where she travels in Mexico to sample the cuisine and culture.

Speaking at the Warner Bros Discovery upfront, new CNN boss Chris Licht delivered his most expansive public comments since taking over from Jeff Zucker, promising a morning show “disruptor” and a challenge to cable news norms.