A Fox News report revealed that CNN reporter Oliver Darcy was reportedly unhappy after being reprimanded by CEO Chris Licht for his “emotional” coverage of the network’s town hall event with former President Donald Trump.
During the meeting, Licht and other network executives expressed their frustrations with the criticism from left-leaning media and politicians, and Darcy was said to have been present.
After the town hall broadcast, Darcy’s Reliable Sources newsletter seemed to criticize his employer. Darcy wrote that CNN and its new boss, Chris Licht, were receiving a lot of criticism, both from within the company and from external sources, following the event. This allegedly upset other staffers, who expressed their frustrations with the CEO.
During the meeting, Licht urged Darcy to remain objective and avoid getting too emotional. He emphasized the importance of providing fair and balanced coverage of all news outlets, not just CNN.
CNN received criticism for giving the ex-president, making his third presidential bid, a platform to reiterate baseless claims that the 2020 election was fraudulently stolen. Additionally, the former president derided E. Jean Carroll, the author who successfully sued him for sexual assault and defamation, despite his denial of the allegations.
In a contentious moment during the CNN town hall, the former president insulted moderator Kaitlan Collins by calling her a “nasty person,” which was met with applause from the audience. In his newsletter’s opening statement, Darcy doubted the value of broadcasting falsehoods on national television.
Licht does not appear to have any remorse and instead commends Collins, who is anticipated to be promoted from co-hosting CNN’s morning program to the 9:00 PM primetime slot, as a rising network personality.
In a staff meeting on Wednesday morning, Licht stated, according to the audio provided to The New York Post, “You may not agree with the ex-president’s responses, but you cannot deny that we obtained them.”
