There is a new kid in town. We are talking about Chris Licht, the apparent new boss over at CNN, the ratings-challenged network that obsessed itself into irrelevancy by talking about Trump 24/7.
This is the story at Axios:
Under new chief Chris Licht, CNN will dial down the prime-time partisanship and double down on the network's news-gathering muscle, top sources tell me.
Why it matters: Ratings are secondary to credibility, in the view of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who's taking over CNN.
Jeff Zucker's successor at the CNN helm will be Licht -- showrunner of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and a popular, pioneering producer who knows his way around America's top control rooms.
We wish Mr. Licht well. At the same time, let's hope that the new leadership understands just how bad things are between CNN and viewers.
First, the ratings are terrible. Forbes reports that Prime Time Down Nearly 70% In Key Demo. I am no expert on TV or "demo" but down 70% is pretty bad.
Second, and this is critical, the hosts are just preaching to the choir and the choir is losing members. So they should replace the lineup and find some news readers who avoid controversy or opinions. They should bring back the "Headline News" format from the 1980s or the 30-minute newscast around the clock.
Finally, they should consider a name change. CNN is toxic. I don't know what the new name should be but anything but CNN has to be an improvement.
It's amazing they set out to destroy to destroy Trump and ended up destroying themselves. There is a lesson there for all of us.
P.S. You can listen to my show. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.