The mainstream media isn’t known for being fair. But now even their allies are turning on them.
And CNN went up in flames after its former owner exposed one truth about the network.
Former CNN chief Chris Licht didn’t hold back in criticizing the “hyperbole” from legacy media surrounding President-elect Donald Trump’s historic win last week.
Speaking at the Yahoo Finance Invest conference on Tuesday, Licht addressed the question of how the media can regain public trust as the country heads into Trump’s second term.
His advice for media colleagues was straightforward: “Swing at the pitches that are thrown.”
Licht humorously referenced comedian Chris Rock, saying, “To completely butcher a Chris Rock phrase, if someone k*lls eight people, don’t say they k*lled nine.”
He urged the press to focus on Trump’s actual actions rather than exaggerating.
“[Trump’s] going to do enough things that really require scrutiny and sounding the alarm bells. Don’t say, ‘Well, this means this, and that means that’s going to happen.’ Say he did this, and then let’s discuss what that means. Not, ‘Well this is going to mean this’ because a lot of times the media gets in trouble when they predict things.”
Ousted as CNN’s chairman and CEO in June 2023 after just over a year, Licht pointed out the “hyperbole” he observed from the media about what a Trump second term would mean.
“‘It’s the end of democracy.’ Well, if it’s not, if four years from now it’s not, then we have a problem with credibility,” Licht said. “So instead, ‘He’s appointed this person, this is this person’s track record,’ not ‘that means he’s going to do this,’ right?”
“There will be enough to discuss. There will be enough things that are going to be controversial. But he and his people know exactly what they’re doing when they try to gin up what one of my former colleagues called outrage p*rn. If everything is an 11, and everything is outrageous, then you’re able to kind of slip through some things that actually should create that outrage,” Licht explained.
Licht was appointed by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav in 2022 to boost CNN’s viewership and rebuild its reputation after years of being branded as anti-Trump under former head Jeff Zucker.
But CNN staff resisted Licht’s efforts to dial down the sensationalism.
Among his most notable moves were dismissing high-profile liberal personalities Brian Stelter, Don Lemon, and Jeffrey Toobin.
However, Licht lost staff support after the network aired an explosive Trump town hall in May 2023, sparking internal backlash. He was dismissed by Zaslav just weeks later.
Now, as CNN faces financial challenges and sinking ratings in November 2024, many of Licht’s decisions have been reversed.
Stelter returned as a media analyst, while Toobin and Lemon have reappeared as guests, and CNN’s anti-Trump stance is back in full force as of Election Day.
CNN’s current chief, Mark Thompson, has been tasked with stemming the network’s declining viewership and revenue.
Meanwhile, CNN employees are expressing “deep frustration” as looming budget cuts and layoffs are expected to hit the network soon, according to insiders speaking with Fox News Digital.
Stay tuned to Prudent Politics.
