Chris Licht, the new head of CNN, said that the network will no longer be giving former President Donald Trump as much airtime as it did under Jeff Zucker.
Donald Trump dominated the news cycle during his 2020 campaign. Now that Chris Licht has taken over as CEO at CNN, he's taking a different approach to political coverage — even if it costs them ratings. Find out why on this episode of #OnWithKaraSwisher https://t.co/Xex1XG9bJv pic.twitter.com/EcZs9OMul7
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) November 17, 2022
During a recent interview with Kara Swisher, Licht noted that CNN would begin carrying out fact checks on Trump. He also said that the network would not allow everything that the former president does to consume the news cycle.
Licht noted that the network and other media outlets would let Trump consume everything that they could.
He also noted that CNN would not be a 24/7 news network dedicated to covering exclusivly the Trump campaign. Instead, it would be very clear and consistent about how it would cover the former president.
Even if Trump improves their ratings, CNN will still maintain its commitment to covering the former president in this manner, Licht noted. The comments came after Trump formally announced his intention to run for president on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
During the first 20 minutes of Trump's speech, CNN covered the event live.
It then transitioned to breaking news and analysis. Since taking over, Licht has also fired several of the network's prominent political figures, such as Brian Stelter. He told staff members this week that more layoffs are expected next month.
Licht noted that if CNN wants to regain its reputation as a credible news network, it would need to focus on being unafraid of speaking truth to power and challenging the status quo. He also said that the network would be respectful of different viewpoints.