I'm exactly the "former CNN viewer" that you reference here. I used to tune into CNN expecting (hoping?) that they would call out Trump for the lies, the misdeeds and the terrible things he was doing on a daily basis. And many of the reporters seemed as horrified as I was. But once Licht came on board, I felt as if I'd tuned into the CNN Both-Sides-Are-Equal network. I wasn't looking for confirmation bias or the comfort of a partisan media bubble. I'm fine with learning that some Democrat or another has screwed up and is being held accountable. But I'll be hung if I'm going to waste my time on a network that is trying to court people who have no interest in hearing the real truth or being convinced of anything other than the propaganda spread by Fox and Trump acolytes. The Trump Town Hall put the final nail in place and then Anderson Cooper hammered it into the coffin with his "blame the victim" non-apology. I'm glad Licht is gone. But as long as Zaslav and others are in charge, CNN is screwed and I won't be coming back.
It wouldn’t hurt if CNN just leaned into the global news organization they could be - sort of an American version of the BBC World Service. Just let CNN International take over and half the problems are solved.
Thanks for this Dan. Good perspective and yes, they bought the Republican arguments against them instead of leaning into what they do best which is international in depth coverage.
I am actually surprised by Licht's pivot to this "Both Sides Journalism" as Dan brilliantly puts it. He was the one who dug Colbert out out of the ratings dump and making him number 1 in late night ratings when he was executive producer for his show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He did this by reporting and trashing the politics of Trump and ripping him a new one every night. He engineered the shift from non-political late night Colbert started his tenure with to the show it is now. Now I agree the audience and demo is probably different, but I think he had a lot of room between what he did with Colbert and making him #1 compared to what he ended up doing at CNN. I think he could have engineered an environment where CNN could be fair, but also report the facts, the truth and not bow down to the MAGA republicans and ignore the threat they pose to democracy. I think all these things can be done in this business and make CNN successful again.
No kidding. This has been my great grief for many years. What times they are. I have been paying close attention to POLITIFACT the past few months--especially here in Florida. What a horrid failure of journalism it has become. I am ashamed it was born so close to my home. Terrible stuff. Not just the evaluations--the questions they choose to assess. Are you surprised to hear that Trump's team is lying about DeSantis? How would you feel if you found out that POLITIFACT said Trump was lying--but in fact, the Trump campaign had it right? False equivalency indeed.
I would have thought "centrist" to mean objective. Licht's view of a centrist approach appears to have been one that was not merely uncritical of an ethical and moral miscreant and a political conspirator, but found a way to promote him via a fabricated townhall. I find that entirely nonobjective. The fact that he was pandering to pro-Trump billionaires supports that point. The general public, including CNN viewers, is repulsed by Trump and Trumpism, and Licht didn't get it.
I wonder what lessons, if any, other news organizations are taking from this episode.
One very peripheral point from the Atlantic piece that I hope doesn't get lost is Licht's observation that MSNBC is too hysterical too much of the time. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for MSNBC - it's mostly honest, and it's a rare TV counterweight to the right-wing and both-sides dreck that seams to predominate everywhere else on TV. But when everything is a hair-on-fire crisis, people disbelieve their own agency, and become blind to the things they can and should do in their sphere of influence. I know too many people obsessed with the latest investigation or the breathlessly predicted indictment - the silver bullet they believe will save us - all the while being utterly oblivious and inert as Moms for Liberty clones takes over their school board, or a MAGA County Commission cuts funding for printing a voters' pamphlet. That was not Licht's concern, but it would be a good thing if MSNBC took the substance of that criticism to heart and found a way to fold in more proportionality and less hero worship.
Even the revered NYTimes is trying to play this “centrist” game and it has turned me off to my once beloved and trusted source. In this fragmented and targeted world people do just what the algorithms mimic, they go where they hear or see what they resonate with. We are too lazy to be disciplined to read / watch another view.
I'm exactly the "former CNN viewer" that you reference here. I used to tune into CNN expecting (hoping?) that they would call out Trump for the lies, the misdeeds and the terrible things he was doing on a daily basis. And many of the reporters seemed as horrified as I was. But once Licht came on board, I felt as if I'd tuned into the CNN Both-Sides-Are-Equal network. I wasn't looking for confirmation bias or the comfort of a partisan media bubble. I'm fine with learning that some Democrat or another has screwed up and is being held accountable. But I'll be hung if I'm going to waste my time on a network that is trying to court people who have no interest in hearing the real truth or being convinced of anything other than the propaganda spread by Fox and Trump acolytes. The Trump Town Hall put the final nail in place and then Anderson Cooper hammered it into the coffin with his "blame the victim" non-apology. I'm glad Licht is gone. But as long as Zaslav and others are in charge, CNN is screwed and I won't be coming back.
It wouldn’t hurt if CNN just leaned into the global news organization they could be - sort of an American version of the BBC World Service. Just let CNN International take over and half the problems are solved.
Thanks for this Dan. Good perspective and yes, they bought the Republican arguments against them instead of leaning into what they do best which is international in depth coverage.
I am actually surprised by Licht's pivot to this "Both Sides Journalism" as Dan brilliantly puts it. He was the one who dug Colbert out out of the ratings dump and making him number 1 in late night ratings when he was executive producer for his show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He did this by reporting and trashing the politics of Trump and ripping him a new one every night. He engineered the shift from non-political late night Colbert started his tenure with to the show it is now. Now I agree the audience and demo is probably different, but I think he had a lot of room between what he did with Colbert and making him #1 compared to what he ended up doing at CNN. I think he could have engineered an environment where CNN could be fair, but also report the facts, the truth and not bow down to the MAGA republicans and ignore the threat they pose to democracy. I think all these things can be done in this business and make CNN successful again.
Smart.
No kidding. This has been my great grief for many years. What times they are. I have been paying close attention to POLITIFACT the past few months--especially here in Florida. What a horrid failure of journalism it has become. I am ashamed it was born so close to my home. Terrible stuff. Not just the evaluations--the questions they choose to assess. Are you surprised to hear that Trump's team is lying about DeSantis? How would you feel if you found out that POLITIFACT said Trump was lying--but in fact, the Trump campaign had it right? False equivalency indeed.
I would have thought "centrist" to mean objective. Licht's view of a centrist approach appears to have been one that was not merely uncritical of an ethical and moral miscreant and a political conspirator, but found a way to promote him via a fabricated townhall. I find that entirely nonobjective. The fact that he was pandering to pro-Trump billionaires supports that point. The general public, including CNN viewers, is repulsed by Trump and Trumpism, and Licht didn't get it.
I wonder what lessons, if any, other news organizations are taking from this episode.
One very peripheral point from the Atlantic piece that I hope doesn't get lost is Licht's observation that MSNBC is too hysterical too much of the time. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for MSNBC - it's mostly honest, and it's a rare TV counterweight to the right-wing and both-sides dreck that seams to predominate everywhere else on TV. But when everything is a hair-on-fire crisis, people disbelieve their own agency, and become blind to the things they can and should do in their sphere of influence. I know too many people obsessed with the latest investigation or the breathlessly predicted indictment - the silver bullet they believe will save us - all the while being utterly oblivious and inert as Moms for Liberty clones takes over their school board, or a MAGA County Commission cuts funding for printing a voters' pamphlet. That was not Licht's concern, but it would be a good thing if MSNBC took the substance of that criticism to heart and found a way to fold in more proportionality and less hero worship.
Even the revered NYTimes is trying to play this “centrist” game and it has turned me off to my once beloved and trusted source. In this fragmented and targeted world people do just what the algorithms mimic, they go where they hear or see what they resonate with. We are too lazy to be disciplined to read / watch another view.