CNN tapped Chris Licht last year to lead the news outlet in a different direction. However, his tenure lasted only a short time, and now CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is wondering what the point of hiring Licht was.
Licht officially became the network’s chairman and chief executive officer in early May 2022. Nonetheless, he would be sacked from CNN in early June, barely having had one year in his position.
While Licht was supposed to shake up the network (and he did), it didn’t result in success. In speaking with The New York Times, Cooper didn’t sound convinced of Licht’s leadership.
“I don’t know what Chris Licht’s analysis was,” Cooper told the outlet. “I don’t have much confidence that I actually know what he was thinking… I mean, I read things in the paper, but I’m not sure what the point of it all was… My sense from Chris was there was not a lot we needed to hash out because I’m not an opinion host.
“I’m talking to people from different sides and trying to be straight down the middle and represent things fairly and accurately. I keep my head down, I just try to do the best I can, and I don’t need to have a lot of meetings with anybody who comes in,” Anderson Cooper continued. “With Chris, I had a meeting with him when he first started and touched base from time to time, but we didn’t have a ton of communications.”
In August, CNN announced Licht’s replacement as Mark Thompson is tapped to lead the network. Thompson led the BBC from 2004 to 2012 before ultimately ascending to the CEO role at The New York Times.
Nonetheless, there are questions regarding the hiring, so Thompson has the challenge of putting the outlet on par with some of its competitors.
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.
