When Chris Licht became president of CNN in October, he made it clear to employees an internal shakeup was in his plans that would accelerate as the end of 2022 drew near..In memo to staff, Licht wrote, “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.”.“When we emerge on the other side, CNN will be a stronger, more nimble organization, ready to weather whatever the global economy throws at us and to grow into the future.”.The journey to the ‘other side’ has officially begun as Licht announced a round of layoffs, as he and other executives at WarnerBros. Discovery trim costs at the struggling cable news network..Employees were told of the cuts in another Licht memo, in which he acknowledged “it will be a difficult time for everyone” at the company..“It is incredibly hard to say goodbye to any one member of the CNN team, much less many. I recently described this process as a gut punch, because I know that is how it feels for all of us,” Licht said in the memo..The first to receive pink slips are “a limited number of individuals, largely some of our paid contributors” as part of a “recalibrated reporting strategy.”.Other impacted employees will learn their fates on Thursday, with Licht scheduled to provide additional details on CNN’s next steps to follow..It wasn’t immediately clear how many of CNN’s roughly 4,000 employees worldwide are being chopped..WarnerBros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is targetting to slash US$3 billion from the corporate giant’s books in the aftermath of its merger. As of August, the company had close to US$55 billion in debt on its books..Earlier this month, the network’s staff grilled Licht about cost-cutting plans during a tense town hall meeting, with a CNN source telling Fox News there were “huge nerves” about the round of cuts, being directed by head office..Licht pushed back on the assertion that Zaslav was dictating changes at the network, where he is steering it toward fact-based, nonpartisan coverage..“I own the vision for this place,” Licht said. “I did not take this job to take dictation from anybody.”.When CNN first hit the airwaves, it was the go-to source for leading and hardcore news, setting the stage on how other networks would design and run their newsroom..In recent years, however, the network became more of a stage for its on-air people to express opinions, the majority supporting the political left. .The opinions intensified in numbers and temerity when Donald Trump won the presidency and when COVID-19 arrived..It is this hard lean to the left that many observers say has caused the decline in CNN’s viewers, but it’s not something all anchors have acknowledged, handing Licht a tall wall of delusion to climb..On late night TV’s Colbert, former CNN prime time night show host, Don Lemon, who was recently demoted to co-host on the network’s morning show, said of its political leanings, “I don’t think we ever were liberal.” .“What?” Colbert asked, adding. “That’s not me saying that, that’s the people out there saying (Chris is) not letting you be liberal anymore.”.“Well listen, I think what Chris is saying is that he wants Republicans, sensible Republicans, he wants us to hold people to account, but he wants people to come on and feel comfortable with coming on and talking on CNN and appearing on CNN,” Lemon said..“So, if you invite someone to your house, you want to make them comfortable but also by the nature of what we do, we have to hold people to account.”
