Developing: CNN Disaster Reported - Multiple Stars Face Hatchet as New Management Plans Talent Purge
CNN hosts who traffic in misinformation and political partisanship may soon be shown the door.
After the forced departure of former CEO Jeff Zucker, executives at CNN’s parent company are reportedly eyeing a reform of the network.
Executives at Discovery, which is merging with CNN parent company AT&T, reportedly want to distinguish CNN from the partisan flamethrowing and liberal color commentary that defined the network during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Discovery executive John Malone is leading the effort to transition CNN in the direction of hard news coverage, according to Washington journalist Jon Nicosia.
?SOURCE: John Malone, Discovery’s board member will “play a huge role in the new organization’s plans to return @CNN to its news channel roots and dismantle the partisan organization Zucker shifted it into” They continue: “This will mean a large realignment of staff”
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) February 23, 2022
Malone is reportedly moving to push out some of CNN’s most partisan hosts by the end of spring, according to Nicosia.
SOURCE: This ‘realignment’ will start with @CNN Anchors. One (who was very close with Zucker) and will have a hard time transitioning away from opinion will “be out by the end of Spring” https://t.co/yu1jWeuvPw
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) March 8, 2022
Nicosia’s source could be referring to Brian Stelter or Don Lemon, both of whom were thought to be close with Zucker during his tenure at the network. (Lemon delivered an unabashedly emotional on-air message praising Zucker after his ouster.)
Zucker was forced out of CNN for failing to disclose a workplace affair with a colleague.
Malone wants the network to focus more on hard news than opinion, according to a U.K. Daily Mail report from February.
The media executive has pointed to coverage of Ukraine as content that transcends CNN’s political partisan bent, according to a separate Nicosia Twitter post.
Partisan content has failed to translate into ratings successes in the post-Trump era, with CNN routinely obliterated by Fox News.
Both Stelter and Lemon have languished in the ratings dungeons in comparison to their peers since the start of 2021.
It’s common for CNN hosts to place more emphasis on criticizing Fox News segments or old news from the Trump era than it is for them to scrutinize US government policy and world events.
CNN has also been rocked by ethics scandals, with both hosts and executives caught colluding with disgraced former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to secure favorable coverage.
Former host Chris Cuomo, Andrew’s brother, was forced out in a scandal in which he faced sexual harassment allegations.
A longtime CNN producer was also arrested late last year on federal sex trafficking and pedophilia charges.
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