The Turmoil at CNN: Lessons Learned from Chris Licht's Exit
The recent turmoil at CNN raises questions about whether an unaligned independent approach to news can work in today's polarized media landscape. CNN's new leadership under David Zaslav wants to move the network away from left-leaning "advocacy" and towards more "balance," but the definition of balance is unclear. Chris Licht's short tenure as CNN leader attempted to play it straight, but his mission was in large part doomed by the particular shape of his assignment, his own missteps, and an apparently incomplete understanding of the network as it existed before his arrival.