With Licht out at CNN....

[Xolodno]

I have to ask, what on earth were/are they thinking? The right wing media is fighting over the few scraps they can get. You have Fox, Newsmax and AON trying to eat each other and salivate when niche areas such as Info Wars is forced to lose viewership. What did they hope to get?

Shock value? You can't out shock those who have been doing shock "news" for a long time, particularly when you have a staff that wants to stick to actual journalism.

Looking for market share where there isn't any. You think someone in the higher ups would have thought that, but then again, I've seen executives fall for their own bullshit.

Now, they have to try and attract back those who walked away. Sure NBC and ABC are happy.

[SalamanderSleeps]

1. Video killed the radio star, video killed the radio star.

Rinse and repeat.

What mojo they have left.

Is gone.

Can anybody say, "Glen Beck?"

[BigmanPigman]

2. They weren't "thinking" obviously.

Morons and idiots who are greedy often do not "think". Greed and intelligence are often conflicting one another. Usually greed overtakes intelligence.

[Bev54]

3. I am not convinced even with Licht gone that they will change their format.

Management seems intent on staying the direction they were going. We will see but employees are not expecting much difference.

[TDale313]

5. It probably won't

He was doing what his bosses wanted. Not doing it well, but the both-sides-ism, pick off disaffected Fox viewers? That was coming from higher up than him. He wasn’t winging this, Zaslav was highly involved.

[Skittles]

7. yup

it remains to be seen if they truly "GET IT"

[GoodRaisin]

4. It looks like their greed backfired on them.

[live love laugh]

6. They're thinking they're Republican billionaires who want CNN to be the new Fox

Why Fox News loving billionaire John Malone ($9.2 b net worth) wants to remake CNN

https://www.vox.com/2022/8/26/23322761/cnn-john-malone-david-zaslav-chris-licht-brian-stelter-fox-peter-kafka-column

Malone is the chairman of Liberty Global, a video, broadband and communications company with $10.4 billion of annualized revenue in 2022. He owns stakes in Warner Bros. Discovery, Formula One and numerous tracking stocks, and is the second-largest private landowner in the US with more than 2 million acres.

[Mike Nelson]

8. Hmm...

... it was better with Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, and Larry King.

[dem4decades]

9. The powers that be at CNN wanted to sail their flagship to the right and they hired Licht to do it.

And he was, but he was doing it quietly, tacking slightly to the right again and again but not being overly blatant about it, giving them deniability. But he was doing what they wanted, moving to the right but then he promoted Trump at the town hall and the cat was out of the bag, CNN was just another right-wing shill.

So they fired Licht but he had done his job, CNN was no longer center. Removing Licht again gives them some cover but CNN is now where the owners wanted it all along. My suggestion, turn it off.

That's my opinion for what's it's worth.

[Funtatlaguy]

10. They wanted to be the Central News Network. Both siderism.

Make every journalist and or host or pundit act like mealy mouthed Michael Scheronish.
It didn’t and won’t work.
People now want strong opinions not equivocation out of their political viewing.

[Xolodno]

12. And that's the rub...

...most moderate GOP (the ones actually willing to compromise, have a drink with a Democrat and discuss where they can agree, etc.) have long since left the party or vote "D" while still being an "R". They had that audience already, trying to get the MAGA nuts is pointless. On top of that, its got Fox and AON in trouble for going too far.

[C_U_L8R]

11. The board of directors is to blame.

Really poor decisions all along the way. Let's see if they know how to repair an utterly self-demolished brand. Somewhere, Ted Turner is cursing.