Multiple CNN Executives Leave Following CEO’s Firing

(ConservativeInsider.org) – It is becoming difficult to avoid the conclusion that ex-President Donald Trump has single-handedly managed to destroy the ailing news network CNN, as the internal recriminations continue after Trump’s town-hall triumph was broadcast on the channel to wild acclaim from the ex-President’s supporters.

CEO Chris Licht has been fired, although the network has not specifically linked his firing with the town-hall episode, and this has triggered the resignation of Chief-Of-Staff Devan Caye, closely followed by the resignations of two top executives from CNN’s communications department, Coratti Kelly and Matt Dornic.

The network had been grappling with the thorny issue of how to deal with another Donald Trump candidacy for the presidential elections in 2024, and CEO Chris Licht must have thought that he had worked out a winning strategy that would counter Donald Trump’s labelling of his organisation as “the enemy of the people” and “fake news”.

But the CNN town-hall interview changed all that – Donald Trump took advantage of a woefully unprepared interviewer, Kaitlan Collins, and deftly batted away her questions as if he was swatting a fly. He came out of it looking extremely presidential and statesmanlike, and his audience loved it. Chris Licht’s avowed strategy of exposing him as a liar and making him look foolish had dismally failed.

The Warner Bros Discovery CEO, David Zaslav who oversaw Chris Licht’s tenure at CNN, also came under criticism, accused of being a micromanager and a control freak, as well as constantly meddling in editorial decisions and treating Licht “like a puppet”. However, Zaslav has now installed a new chief executive, David Leavy to replace Licht.

The entire episode is noteworthy for one comment from a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. Bill Grueskin said: “It would be absolutely unfair to say that a trained seal could have done a better job at CNN than Chris Licht. All I’m saying is that now that all the evidence has been reviewed, maybe we should give the trained seal a chance.”