Chris Licht is almost two months into his position as chairman and CEO of CNN. He recently joined Clarissa Ward, where the two took part in a 45-minute discussion at the Warner Bros. Discovery venue at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
The two interviewed each other, and one of the first questions that Ward asked Licht was about his vision for the company, taking over as head of the company from former Jeff Zucker.
“It’s pretty simple. It’s the greatest news brand in the world, and we want to build on that,” Licht said, per TV Newser.
“This is really a calling for me. Journalism is in my bones and when David Zaslav called me and said, ‘I need you to do this,’ I said, ‘Okay.’”
Licht also told Ward about the reaction from the comedy world about taking the position, especially from Jon Stewart, during his time as the executive producer of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“He said ‘What the f–k are you thinking?’ and I think that summed up the general comedy world reaction,” Licht added.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
