CNN Media Reporter: CEO Chris Licht Has ‘Lost the Room’

Oliver Darcy, CNN’s senior media reporter, says staffers have lost confidence in the network’s CEO, Chris Licht.

His comments came in his newsletter on Monday. They were reportedly touched off by The Atlantic’s article “Inside the Meltdown at CNN,” which detailed the fallout for hosting a town hall with former President Donald Trump.

“In the wake of The Atlantic’s explosive story, I’ve spoken with dozens of staffers across the company,” Darcy said in his newsletter. “There are a wide range of emotions coursing through the halls of CNN. Some staffers are frustrated. Others are angry. Many are sad about the awful state of affairs that has taken hold of an organization they love.

“There is one near-universal sentiment, however, that has been communicated to me: Licht has lost the room. Whether Licht can actually win over his army of journalists, however, is far from certain — especially now that he is attempting to reset relations more than a year into his tenure, having alienated much of the employee base and squandered the good will he had when he took helm of the network.

“In the eyes of so many at CNN, there isn’t anything Licht can do at this point to win over their support. They’ve hit the wall with him. As one anchor texted me, in reference to Licht’s announcement on Monday that he will relocate his office to a newsroom floor at Hudson Yards [in Manhattan]. We don’t want his office relocated to the 18th floor, we want it relocated out of the building.”

On Monday, Licht had apologized to the CNN staffers for the negative press, according to The Hill.

And analyst Brian Stelter reported for New York magazine that his former CNN colleagues see Licht as “done” after just one year with ratings still sagging.

“That anti-Licht sentiment is shared by many in the CNN rank and file, and has existed to some extent for months, but The Atlantic article cemented it,” Stelter wrote Sunday. “In the words of three employees: ‘He’s over.’ ‘He’s done.’ ‘There’s no coming back from that profile.’ “