CNN boss Chris Licht has been hitting the phones to network anchors “he’s never spoken to before” as he twists on the hot seat after a damning magazine profile called into question his leadership, The Post has learned.
Licht, realizing his reign may be cut short after just one year, has engaged in major damage control that includes calling the ratings-challenged network’s top talent, multiple sources told The Post on Tuesday.
“He has been calling anchors who have never spoken to him before,” said a source. “He needs to win the room but the [Atlantic] piece shortened his window of time to do that.”
Inside CNN, there’s a countdown for when David Zaslav, the CEO of the network’s parent Warner Bros Discovery, will pull the trigger on firing his appointed puppet after installing lieutenant David Leavy as CNN chief operating officer last week, sources said.
Some are speculating that the hammer will drop around the Fourth of July — in a bid to bury the news during the holiday weekend — while others think Licht has a few months to turn things around.
“It’s a coin toss,” a source said, noting that nobody aside from Zaslav really knows the fate of Licht. “But one thing is for sure, CNN needs to start planning its presidential election coverage.”
Already, internal names have been bandied about as to who would replace Licht, the sources said.
They include Amy Entelis, CNN’s executive vice president for talent and content development, and Virginia Moseley, CNN’s executive vice president of editorial for the network’s US operation.
Moseley, a Jeff Zucker acolyte, is a hard-nosed executive, who “wears down” her underlings but is “great” at what she does, a source said.
Entelis, on the other hand, is “much softer” and is generally well-liked by the rank-and-file, another insider said.
“Any internal promotion would be like moving around the deck chairs on the Titanic,” one source said, noting that CNN still has to turn around its cataclysmic ratings, which plunged 25% in primetime in May compared to last year.
Others think Zaslav could keep Licht and have him run editorial operations while Leavy is essentially his boss, running the business, but such a demotion may not sit well with Licht — or CNN staffers, according to sources.
CNN declined to comment.
The 15,000-word Atlantic expose, penned by Tim Alberta, depicted Licht as a thin-skinned, aloof executive who is isolated from employees who no longer trust his leadership.
Despite a mea culpa from Licht on Monday, CNN insiders have come down on their boss for alienating supporters and critics alike, including veteran anchor Christiane Amanpour, who confronted Licht on his decision to host a town hall with former President Trump last month.
He has also failed to win over loyalists of ousted predecessor Zucker, like Dana Bash, who still remains in close contact with her former boss, according to a source.
Other top anchors including Jake Tapper, Erin Burnett and Anderson Cooper have voiced their concerns about Licht’s leadership, with some complaining to Leavy, according to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy blasted Licht in his Monday newsletter, “Reliable Sources,” writing the Atlantic exposé “called into serious question Licht’s judgment [and] his ability to lead the network’s staff.”
He added that Licht has “alienated much of the employee base and squandered the good will he had when he took helm of the network,” noting that Licht’s efforts to “reset relations more than a year into his tenure” may be too little too late.
The reporter noted that Licht’s apology didn’t include his disparagement of CNN’s previous journalism, which left staffers “frustrated” and “angry.”
“Many are sad about the awful state of affairs that has taken hold of an organization they love,” Darcy wrote. “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.”
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