This is Chris Licht. He is the new chairman and CEO of CNN, replacing Jeff Zucker, who resigned in February this year, following revelations of an affair with a subordinate. Licht has previously worked at MSNBC, as executive produver of “Morning Joe” and at CBS, overseeing “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”. Licht is said to want to bring back “hard-news sensibility to CNN”.
CNN, used to be the leading cabvle news network. It is now behind both Fox Propoganda (also know as Fox News) and MSNBC.. Before Trump began his presidential run, in 2015, CNN, to me, was a fairly neutral news network, presenting both Republican and Democrat positions. It leaned a bit left of centre, but not much. It had hosts such as Pat Buchanan and Robert Novack (Capitol Gang), Tucker Carlson (Crossfire) and Lou Dobbs. Once, Trump began his run, CNN has gone considerably to the left. They are now fighting for viewers with MSNBC.
The twitterverse is up in arms with CNN’s new direction. Hosts and guests such as Brian Stelter and John Harwood have left the network, with others rumoured to be soon to follow. To me, this shift is a pure business move. CNN is trying to take viewers away from Fox. However, the environment now is far different from what it was before Trump made his presidential run. While, there was polarization in 2015, it is not at the extreme level it is today. To me, Fox News viewers only want to hear one side of the argument. They do not want to hear any opinions other than what Fox has imbedded in them. CNN, who will try to provide both sides of the story will not get any Fox viewers. I will not be surprised that, in a few months, CNN shifts back further to the left.