Mark Thompson Starts as CNN's New CEO
Article by Blake Noe, TPT Staff Writer
After nearly two years of turmoil at CNN that culminated in the firing of former CEO Chris Licht, a new era of CNN has begun: the era of CEO Mark Thompson.
Thompson comes to CNN with a rich background in the news industry. He previously served as the president and CEO of The New York Times from 2012 to 2020, and before that as the director-general of the BBC from 2004 to 2012. He officially started as the CEO of CNN on October 9th.
New CNN CEO mark thompson
Image Credit: CNN
This move comes at a pivotal time in the network’s 43-year history. CNN has faced nearly two years of rating losses and declining profits. The network’s previous CEO, Chirs Licht, was appointed in February 2022 to succeed Jeff Zucker.
Licht came to the network after serving as executive producer of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. His first move at CNN was changing the network’s approach to its news coverage, as an effort to reach viewers on the left and the right. In April of the same year, CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, shut down the network’s streaming service CNN+ only weeks after its debut. On that same day, Licht announced the possibility of hundreds of layoffs.
Another one of Licht’s prospects was retooling CNN’s programming. He retooled the network’s two-anchor morning show New Day into CNN This Morning in November 2022, with Poppy Harlow, Don Lemon, and Kaitlan Collins at the anchor desk. Not long after its debut, in April 2023, Lemon was fired from CNN after making sexist remarks live on air about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Not long after Lemon’s firing, Collins was moved from the morning show into the network’s 9pm slot to debut her show The Source with Kaitlan Collins, which debuted in July 2023 as CNN’s 2nd-most watched Monday primetime show.
The final nail in the coffin for Licht’s time at CNN was the town hall the network hosted with former President Trump. The town hall received criticism from inside and outside the network for spreading false information.
Following a bombshell piece published in The Atlantic on June 2 detailing Licht’s mishandling of the town hall and his falling standing within the organization, Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav announced that Licht was leaving the network, effective immediately.
After nearly two years of turmoil, there is hope that Mark Thompson will bring new life to CNN and help it recover from the damage it sustained during the Licht era.
Sources:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/30/media/cnn-ceo-mark-thompson/index.html
https://apnews.com/article/cnn-chairman-thompson-bbc-times-4e7844028f5ccb7170212fb67e86ddb4
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/07/business/timeline-chris-licht-cnn.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/09/15/cnn-morning-don-lemon-chris-licht/
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/kaitlan-collins-source-cnn-launch-1235661809/
https://www.thewrap.com/the-source-kaitlan-collins-cnn-premiere-ratings/