To assist the cable news network in facing current issues, CNN CEO Chris Licht has announced that David Leavy will be joining his team of executives as its new Chief Operations Officer. Licht made the announcement on CNN’s 9 a.m. editorial call.
Leavy, a veteran in the television industry, will be moving to CNN from his present position as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Warner Bros. Discovery. Having Leavy as COO will enable Licht to devote more time to programming by adding a layer of management between the CEO and numerous other business leaders.
In his short time as CEO, Licht has shifted CNN’s emphasis from opinion to complex reporting. The ratings have plummeted as a result, however, as Americans seem to be more engaged in punditry than journalism. Or the viewers are tired of ‘fake news.’
CNN also unveiled its new on-air branding at the same time its new COO was introduced.
A Trump Town Hall that seemed to bring together a divided country in rage while producing hundreds of headlines has resulted in its usually poor ratings for the network, which is still reeling from the wrath it received from both within and without the company.
According to an account of CNN’s troubles, the company’s plan to appoint a chief operational officer might spell the beginning of the end for network CEO Chris Licht, who is under attack from a newsroom staff committed to his predecessor.
The 9,000-word investigation on Licht’s year in charge after replacing Jeff Zucker reveals that he presided over a period of internal strife and behind-the-scenes maneuvering, most notably the dismissal of anchor Don Lemon.
While Licht strives to move CNN back toward the center following years of catering to the far-left, the network’s ratings continue to plummet, with CNN losing several primetime contests to Newsmax.
According to the report, when it was announced that David Leavy, a longtime supporter of CEO David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery, was named CNN’s COO, It fueled rumors of an approaching conflict of power and, possibly, the end for Licht.
