Inside CNN's epic PR fail that made a mockery of CEO Chris Licht
The disaster I'm referring to isIn Alberta's lengthy depiction, Licht has a big idea — to make CNN more independent from partisanship again. But, according to the story, Licht hasn't been able to articulate a plan to CNN staff and stars for how to do that in a way that attracts viewers and makes good, responsible TV journalism., which followed months of Licht telling people how simple it would be to cover the former president, the story reveals.
I've spent the past 26 hours or so speaking to several people with direct knowledge of Alberta's pitch to CNN for the story. They know how the project was green-lit in late Summer 2022 and they watched in horror as it wildly spun out of control in the following winter and spring. You won't catch Kelly throwing anybody else under the bus, though. Sources say Dornic feels like he's going to get blamed for everything, and might try to throw someone else under a bus appearing to come for him.
The most famous example is how Michael Eisner, when he was riding high running Disney, allowed James B. Stewart deep and wide access into the company for such a long period of time that before he was done, Eisner was dealing with a proxy war that would lead to his ouster. Stewart's book,"DisneyWar" portrayed him as an out of touch and delusional executive."It was doubly shocking to me that they thought Tim Alberta was the best idea for this.
Multiple CNN insiders told me their understanding is that the original plan for the story was that it was supposed to publish in the Fall of 2022, and be mostly about the launch of Licht's brainchild,"CNN This Morning." Fair enough! These are just comms people doing their job at a company that's got a lot of challenges beyond their control. It's actually been sort of heartwarming to see sources who could kill each other over this close ranks and want to protect each other, when SOMEONE definitely screwed up.
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