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☆ Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker's $1 billion venture is reportedly considering a big investment in former Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter's media startup Air Mail
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Zucker's firm, RedBird IMI, is reportedly one of three investors circling a majority stake in Air Mail. Jeff Zucker's media venture, RedBird IMI, is exploring a majority stake in Graydon Carter's startup Air Mail, The New York Times reported. It is one of three investors circling Air Mail, according to the Times. Carter, who spent 25 years leading Condé Nast's Vanity Fair, launched Air Mail — "a lively digital weekly for the world citizen," per its website — in 2019. In May 2021, as he was seeking investors for the series B, Carter told Insider he expected Air Mail to reach profitability in three years.

Persons: Jeff Zucker, Graydon Carter's, Zucker, Jeff Zucker's, Carter, Condé, Axios, RedBird, Zucker's, Chris Licht, David Zaslav, Licht, Donald Trump, Zaslav, Carter cohosted Organizations: CNN, IMI, Air Mail, Morning, RedBird IMI, The New York Times, RedBird Capital Partners, Abu, Media Investments, Air, Times, Standard Investments, TPG Growth, Warner Bros, Discovery, Cannes Film Locations: Abu Dhabi, Zaslav

☆ Inside CNN's epic PR fail that made a mockery of CEO Chris Licht
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Nicholas Carlson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The Atlantic published a really tough article about CNN CEO Chris Licht. The disaster I'm referring to is Tim Alberta's devastating profile of CNN chair and CEO Chris Licht published Friday. And maybe, the story suggests, that's because that big idea is not really Licht's plan at all but one foisted on him by his boss, Warner Bros. Through the summer, Alberta and Licht and CNN comms people talked about what the story might look like. A handful of sources tell me Kelly was skeptical of whether this was a good idea, Dornic was happy to do whatever, and Licht really, really wanted to do it.

Persons: Chris Licht, CNN's goof, Tim Alberta's, Licht, Licht hasn't, Warner, David Zaslav, Zucker, Jeff Zucker, I've, I'm, Kris Coratti Kelly, Kelly, Matt Dornic, Dornic, Hugo, Evan Agostini, isn't, Michael Eisner, James B, Stewart, Eisner, Stewart's, Tim Alberta, Nikki Haley, Don Lemon, he'd, it's, that's, It's, wasn't, Zaslav Organizations: CNN, Trump Town Hall, Warner Bros, Discovery, Journalism, Licht, Global Communications, American Museum of, Disney, Alberta, Trump, Atlantic Locations: Alberta, Manhattan

☆ Could Jeff Zucker Fix CNN? He Seems to Think So.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Benjamin Mullin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The complaint wasn’t unusual for Mr. Zucker, 58. He often compares notes on the media business with former colleagues and industry acquaintances, many of whom call him to grouse about the current state of CNN. Mr. Zucker’s criticism may be painful for executives running CNN to hear second- and thirdhand. Last month, CNN hosted a town hall with Mr. Trump in New Hampshire that was criticized for airing false information. Many anchors Mr. Zucker hired or promoted, including Jake Tapper, and Kaitlan Collins, who moderated the town hall, are still in prominent spots in CNN’s lineup.

Persons: Zucker, Chris Licht, Donald J, Trump, Jake Tapper, Kaitlan Collins Organizations: CNN, Nielsen Locations: New Hampshire

☆ Jeff Zucker reportedly compared his firing from CNN to a gunshot wound: 'I gave them a gun, and they shot me with it'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Jeff Zucker compared his firing from CNN to a gunshot wound, according to a New York Times report. Jeff Zucker compared his firing from CNN to a gunshot wound, according to a New York Times report — in part a self-inflicted one. "I gave them a gun, and they shot me with it," Zucker reportedly said. Zucker was an immensely popular leader at CNN, and his firing was a staggering shock to its newsroom and the media industry. Licht and Zucker met a few months after Zucker's firing, over a lunch in the Hamptons arranged by other media stakeholders, the Times reported.

Persons: Jeff Zucker, Zucker, Chris Licht, Allison Gollust, Tim Alberta, Gollust, Andrew Cuomo, Risa Heller, Heller, Zucker's, David Zaslav, Laurene Powell Jobs, Emerson, WBD, Licht, Don Lemon, Donald Trump, Zaslav, David Leavy Organizations: CNN, New York Times, Yale University, Times, Atlantic, WarnerMedia, Warner Bros, Discovery, Hamptons Locations: WarnerMedia, New York

☆ That Atlantic magazine story about the CNN CEO has to be scaring the bejeezus out of Elon Musk right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Nicholas Carlson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk gave Walter Isaacson full access for a new biography. According to the story, Licht gave Alberta hours and hours of on the record interviews over the fall of 2022, through the winter, and into the spring. Licht took Alberta on a train ride. Another really famous example is Steve Jobs allowing Walter Isaacson into his life in a way he'd never done before. All of which leads me to something really exciting on the horizon for us readers: Walter Isaacson's forthcoming biography of Elon Musk.

Persons: Elon Musk, Walter Isaacson, I'm, Chris Licht, Tim Alberta, Licht, Michael Eisner, James Stewart, Stewart, Rupert Murdoch, John DeLorean, Richard Branson, Dick Fuld, Rudy Giuliani, Nikki Haley, Steve Jobs, Jobs, Walter Isaacson's, Isaacson, Musk, Ackbar Organizations: CNN Locations: The, Alberta

☆ 'It's like watching a snuff film': Media elites shocked by The Atlantic's surgical dismantling of CNN boss Chris Licht
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Nicholas Carlson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

("I'm a fucking machine," Licht told me one day, when I asked why he was skipping a meal.) A clear-the-air town hall where he gets irritated with the CNN journalist interviewing him. Licht told Alberta. The big blunder Alberta returns to over and over in the story is the May 10 Trump town hall. Another media big wig, but one not at the conference, told me he thinks Licht is "done" at CNN.

Persons: moly, Chris Licht, Tim Alberta, Matt Dornic, Licht, Joe Maysonet, chirping, Zucker, Jeff Zucker, Here's Licht, Whatsapp, —, isn't, it's, Nikki Haley, Lago Organizations: CNN, Facebook, Alberta, Trump, Capitol, cnn, Cnn, Mar Locations: Alberta, Hudson, COVID, Puck, Trump, American

☆ CNN apparently removed the words 'sexual abuse' from a chyron ahead of Trump town hall, The Atlantic reports in bombshell profile of network head Chris Licht
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Sarah Gray | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CNN producers removed the words "sexual abuse" from a chyron ahead of Trump's town hall, per The Atlantic. The day prior to Trump's CNN town hall, he was found liable for defamation and sexual abuse. Nearly a month after the town hall, The Atlantic published an eye-opening profile of Licht and his tenure. On May 9, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming longtime Elle columnist E. Jean Carroll awarding her $5 million. The jury did not find Trump liable for rape; the former president has denied the allegations.

Persons: Tim Alberta's, Chris Licht, Chris Licht's, Donald Trump, Licht, Atlantic's Tim Alberta, Trump, E, Jean Carroll, Kaitlan Collins, Collins, Carroll, Oliver Darcy, Christiane Amanpour Organizations: CNN, CNN Worldwide, GOP Locations: Trump's, Alberta

☆ CNN CEO Chris Licht has some thoughts on media's lack of diversity
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Trisha Gopal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A recent Atlantic profile of CNN CEO Chris Licht detailed problems within the network under his leadership. In the article, Licht shared his thoughts on diversity in the media industryIn recent years, CNN has come under fire for not promoting talent of color on primetime TV. In a revealing profile published by the Atlantic on Friday, CNN's CEO Chris Licht shared his thoughts on the lack of diversity in the media industry — and why he believes media has a misguided idea of what it means to be diverse. Alberta commented that Licht sought to "recruit reporters who are deeply religious and reporters who grew up on food stamps and reporters who own guns." When pressed by Alberta to elaborate on why, Licht responded, "They have a different relationship with their need with the police."

Persons: Chris Licht, Licht, CNN's, Tim Alberta, David Zaslav, Zaslav, doesn't, Donald Trump, Kaitlan Collins, Jean Carroll, Brian Stelter, Don Lemon, Laura Coates, Coates Organizations: CNN, Morning, Atlantic, Harvard, Republicans, Warner Media Discovery, Technology, Media, Telecom Conference Locations: Alberta

☆ CNN's new CEO mostly ignored his staff at a holiday party and read critical coverage about himself on his phone instead: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Taylor Berman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Angry staffers and low ratings have plagued CNN CEO Chris Licht's first year on the job. At a holiday party, Licht mostly kept to himself and read bad publicity about himself instead of interacting with his staff. That anecdote is from a revealing new profile about Licht in The Atlantic. CNN CEO Chris Licht has been on the job for just over a year. Later in the profile, Licht explained some of his views on diversity to Alberta.

Persons: Chris Licht's, Licht, Chris Licht, Donald Trump, Tim Alberta, Puck, Don Lemon's, Lemon, " Licht Organizations: CNN, Café Milano, Alberta, Harvard Locations: Puck, Alberta

☆ CNN's CEO reportedly looked like 'a man who had just survived a car wreck' after Trump town hall last month
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Nathan Mcalone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CNN CEO Chris Licht reportedly looked like he'd "just survived a car wreck" after last month's Trump town hall. Still, he has largely stood by his decisions around the town hall. CNN CEO Chris Licht wore the "expression of a man who had just survived a car wreck" after the network's Trump town hall last month, according to an expansive new profile in The Atlantic. Alberta described the morale inside CNN following the town hall as abysmal. "I had never witnessed a lower tide of confidence inside any company than in the week following the town hall at CNN," he wrote.

Persons: Chris Licht, Licht, Tim Alberta, MAGA, —, Kaitlan Collins, Oliver Darcy, Christiane Amanpour, Donald Trump, David Leavy Organizations: CNN, —, Republican, Trump, Columbia Journalism School Locations: Trump, Alberta, America

☆ CNN's new COO hire underscores bond between CEO Chris Licht and WBD boss David Zaslav
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CNN CEO Chris Licht is about to get some help running his news network from a longtime close confidant of Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive officer David Zaslav. Licht has hired David Leavy as CNN's new chief operating officer, the company announced Thursday. Reporters and staffers openly criticized Licht's decision to air a Donald Trump town hall with legions of screaming fans last month. Licht has since acknowledged production issues with the production while standing behind the decision to broadcast a live Trump town hall.

Persons: Chris Licht, Warner, David Zaslav . Licht, David Leavy, Leavy, Licht, Licht's, Donald Trump, Zaslav Organizations: CNN, Warner Bros . Discovery, Warner Bros, Washington , D.C Locations: Trump, Washington ,

☆ The world's richest man's plan to build a luxury hotel on LA's most famous shopping street was torpedoed after residents voted against it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Beverly Hills residents voted against Bernard Arnault's plan to build a luxury hotel on Rodeo Drive. Plans for the Rodeo Drive hotel included 115 rooms with a ninth-story penthouse, private club, spa, shops, and three restaurants. A "Yes on B and C" campaign sign is displayed at the site of the proposed Cheval Blanc Hotel on Rodeo Drive. Rodeo Drive is already home to a number of Arnault's businesses, including a Dior store. Other luxury fashion brands including Prada, Gucci, Yves San Laurent, and Valentino also have stores on Rodeo Drive.

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Zaslav backs CNN chief Licht amid anger over Trump town hall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Discovery CEO David Zaslav supported CNN CEO Chris Licht during an investor conference Thursday as tension at the network rises over the decision to air a live Donald Trump town hall packed with his supporters. Zaslav continues to be supportive of CNN's decision to host the Trump town hall, according to a person familiar with his thinking. "He's the frontrunner — he has to be on our network," Zaslav said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." Amanpour said she met with Licht this week to convey her disappointment with airing a Trump town hall in the format in which it happened. Amanpour is the first significant CNN journalist to publicly criticize Licht and Zaslav's decision to air the town hall.

☆ Christiane Amanpour voices dissent over Trump town hall, says she had ‘very robust exchange’ with CNN chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —It has been one week since CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump — and the fierce fallout stemming from the event is still reverberating. She said that Licht “welcomed that exchange of views,” but stood by his decision to hold the town hall. After hearing out Licht, Amanpour told the Columbia Journalism School graduates that she had not been moved. In private, the town hall has been widely criticized by employees at all levels across the organization. A CNN spokesperson said Licht was aware she planned to address the town hall in her speech.

☆ How to join a board of directors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Chris Taylor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

NEW YORK, May 18 (Reuters) - When Hayley Woodin was thinking of giving back to the community while taking her career to the next level, one option stood out: serving on a board of directors. The Catch-22 is that companies want directors with board experience to fill board seats. Before you reach that stage, you will likely start on a volunteer board, as Hayley Woodin did. To find such opportunities, "often local boards of trade will host events designed to pair those looking for board experience, with organizations looking for board members," Woodin said. "If an organization is looking to bring someone onto their board, what is the first thing they are going to do?

☆ CNN getting more Republicans on-air as it seeks political diversity
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Helen Coster | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

We need to show both sides of every issue.”Advertisers “don’t want to be part of an advocacy network” but they do want to be part of a news network, Zaslav said. CNN has taken heat for its broadcast of a May 10 town hall with former Republican President Donald Trump. On Wednesday CNN chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour publicly criticized the town hall in remarks at Columbia Journalism School, the first of the network’s on-air talent to do so. “I still respectfully disagree with allowing Donald Trump to appear in that particular format,” Amanpour said, according to the CNN “Reliable Sources” newsletter Wednesday night. The Trump town hall attracted 3.3 million viewers, making CNN the most-watched cable news network that evening, according to Nielsen data.

New York CNN —CNN’s Kaitlan Collins will anchor a new show at 9 pm starting in June, CNN CEO Chris Licht announced Wednesday. Since then, the 9 pm slot was hosted by a cast of CNN anchors, special interviews and town halls. Licht said Collins will leave the CNN This Morning show, which will be led by Poppy Harlow “alongside a rotation of CNN guest anchors.” Collins’ departure from the morning show is the second in a month after Don Lemon parted ways with CNN in April. CNN's Kaitlan Collins Jeremy Freeman/CNNCollins last week interviewed former President Donald Trump during CNN’s contentious and controversial town hall event. “I’m so thankful for my friend and co-anchor Poppy and will be cheering on the CNN This Morning team every day.”Collins, 31, joined CNN in 2017 as White House reporter.

☆ Kaitlan Collins, Moderator of Trump Forum, Is Named CNN’s 9 P.M. Anchor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

CNN has selected Kaitlan Collins to host a new weeknight show at 9 p.m., elevating her to one of the most coveted time slots in cable news a week after she moderated a contentious town hall with former President Donald J. Trump. The new role for Ms. Collins was announced by CNN’s chairman, Chris Licht, on Wednesday, just ahead of a presentation to advertisers in Midtown Manhattan hosted by Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company. Her show, which does not yet have a title, is set to begin in June. “She is a smart and gifted journalist who we’ve all seen hold lawmakers and newsmakers accountable,” Mr. Licht wrote in a newsroom memo.

☆ CNN's CEO stands by Trump town hall but acknowledges production weaknesses, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Nearly a week after CNN's town hall with Donald Trump, CEO Chris Licht has acknowledged internally there are some things he wished the network had done differently. Licht continues to stand by the concept of the town hall, telling people both inside and outside of CNN that history will look kindly on the network's decision to interview Trump in front of cheering supporters in a live town hall format. That way, CNN could draw the audience's focus to the substance of the question rather than the spectacle of Trump. CNN could have also graphically shown each question while Trump spoke, emphasizing his answers didn't always match the topic at hand. NBC isn't likely to do a Trump town hall, given how CNN's went, said the person.

☆ The Week in Business: Trump on TV
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Marie Solis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

(May 7-13)CNN’s TrumpcastUntil last week, former President Donald J. Trump had not appeared on CNN since 2016. But at a town hall hosted by the network on Wednesday night, Mr. Trump, the Republican front-runner in the 2024 presidential campaign, resumed the lies and name-calling that marked his presidency. Critics of CNN’s forum said it was reckless to give Mr. Trump such a large platform for his message, especially because it proved difficult to fact check his statements in real time. The results came in: Almost 58 percent of the 17.5 million people who voted agreed that Mr. Musk should leave his post. Mr. Musk said Ms. Yaccarino, who recently interviewed him onstage at an advertising event in Miami, would focus on business operations while he would continue to work on product design and technology.

☆ CNN staffers were horrified watching their network conduct the Trump town hall
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CNN staffers were horrified watching their network conduct a town hall with former President Donald Trump. CNN staffers were horrified watching their network conduct a town hall with former President Donald Trump. They were mocking her," said one former CNN executive, also granted anonymity to speak openly, who wondered why they hadn't conducted a Trump interview separately from the town hall. The Trump interview also put the #boycottCNN hashtag back into circulation. Ahead of the town hall, anchor Wolf Blitzer asked one panelist what he was most looking forward to from the town hall and he responded: "The exits."

☆ CNN boss Chris Licht loved how Trump's town hall turned out, even though it was 'uncomfortable' hearing the audience cheering
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

CNN boss Chris Licht loved the network's town hall with former US president Donald Trump. Licht said that he's aware of the backlash but believes "America was served very well" by the event. While the audience's cheers in response to Trump's answers were "uncomfortable," it was "important," he added. But instead, Trump steamrolled CNN host Kaitlan Collins for 70 minutes. Meanwhile, Trump's campaign told the New York Times that the CNN town hall was a total success — for Trump.

☆ CNN's Trump town hall drew 3.3 million viewers — about what Tucker Carlson's top-rated Fox News show pulled before he was canned
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

CNN hosted a town hall with former President Donald Trump on Wednesday night. But CNN drew 3.3 million viewers, about what Tucker Carlson was drawing to his Fox News show. CNN's decision to host a town hall with former President Donald Trump was heavily criticized — both before and after the chaotic event took place Wednesday night — but still drew in 3.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings. The town hall ratings were also good news for CNN boss Christ Licht, who has worked to attract Republicans to the network since taking over as CEO in 2022. CNN's ratings Wednesday night were significantly lower than several Trump town halls put on by Fox News in 2020, including one held by host Sean Hannity in June 2020 that drew 5.1 million viewers.

Trump was back on CNN primetime during a town hall appearance on Wednesday night. And CNN certainly seemed to be eager for conservative buy-in during the Wednesday town hall, filling the room with a mixture of New Hampshire Republicans and effectively independent voters. The former president's advisor told other outlets that the town hall was an effort to underline Trump's 2016 strategy of reaching beyond the traditional GOP coalition. During the Wednesday town hall, Trump called Carroll a "whack job," echoing the very falsehoods that landed him with a defamation charge this week. "The predictably disastrous @cnn town hall was indeed disastrous," former broadcast exec and current dean of the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication at Hofstra University, Mark Lukasiewicz tweeted.

☆ CNN town hall shows the network still doesn't know how to handle Donald Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Wednesday's 70-minute town hall with Trump, moderated by anchor Kaitlan Collins, was CNN's first big opportunity since the change of ownership to showcase itself as a network of facts. Trump has a history of peddling election fraud lies — an example of saying it's raining when it's not. At one point, bothered by Collins' consistent attempt to tether Trump to the truth, Trump called Collins "a nasty person." "If I see election fraud, I think I have an obligation to say it," Trump said. In other words, Trump said he'd suspend talk about the 2020 election fraud and then, seconds later, spoke about 2020 election fraud.

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