Simply 5 days after The Atlantic revealed an in-depth take a look at CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht’s troubled tenure on the community, together with hours of on-the-record interviews with Licht, he was unceremoniously let go, The Guardian reported.
When members of the media described Licht turning CNN into “Fox Information Lite,” he shrugged the feedback off in The Atlantic piece.
“That is too vital for me to be anxious about what somebody’s calling me or suggesting I’m attempting to be,” Licht stated within the article. “That is so mission-driven and so vital. I genuinely am—I get mad, I get annoyed, but it surely doesn’t, like, have an effect on me. Does that make sense?”
However public notion did matter, nonetheless.
Licht made a sequence of weighty choices throughout his yr within the put up, together with layoffs, firing anchors and extra lately, an almost-crippling transfer to host Donald Trump throughout a city corridor that went awry.
The place it went improper
CNN defined in a latest article:
The Guardian reported that Licht apologized to CNN staff shortly after The Atlantic protection.
“I met with Chris and he might be leaving CNN,” David Zaslav, chief government officer of dad or mum firm Warner Bros. Discovery, knowledgeable CNN staff throughout a daily editorial assembly.
Zaslav was not thrilled about The Atlantic’s article, “Contained in the Meltdown at CNN, which some really feel was dealt with incorrectly, CNBC reported.
CNBC explains that Licht addressed the decision throughout a employees assembly earlier than his departure:
Licht stated through the name he understands staffers’ frustration and is intent on incomes his staff’ belief, stated the folks. He didn’t particularly communicate to why he participated in The Atlantic profile, by which reporter Tim Alberta spent months with Licht, together with becoming a member of him on the health club throughout a private coaching session and attending backstage CNN programming rehearsals. Licht’s remarks had been brief, stated the folks, who weren’t approved to debate the matter publicly.
Licht talked about his journey in a press release.
“This was an thrilling however extremely difficult task and I realized rather a lot over the previous 13 months,” he stated within the CNN article. “I’ve been fortunate sufficient to have had a profitable, fulfilling profession and I sit up for my subsequent chapter. I want the group at CNN the perfect, at all times.”
What went left on this scenario? Every little thing. Licht spoke, maybe, too plainly to The Atlantic Correspondent Tim Alberta who interviewed him starting final fall.
“This was the primary of many on-the-record interviews that Licht had agreed to offer me, and I wished to understand how CNN’s new chief deliberate to take care of one other Donald Trump candidacy,” Alberta stated within the article.
Why it issues: Licht’s huge failures had been broadly highlighted within the article, which he spoke about frankly.
Media relations is a strong software if wielded accurately. It could increase up giants and convey them down simply as shortly.
The latter was the case with Licht. Whereas belief and transparency are elementary instruments that assist PR professionals and journalists navigate skilled relationships, discretion and silence is golden, too.
Licht’s guard greater than doubtless was down over the past handful of months and he constructed rapport with The Atlantic correspondent and trusted him. The Atlantic article got here again to hang-out him in an enormous method. The writing was already on the wall given CNN’s fast descent after the city corridor, however the article was the nail within the coffin.
This serves as a strong reminder of being cautious what you say to journalists. It doesn’t matter what rapport chances are you’ll construct with them, they’re journalists — not your good friend, not your therapist. Assume every thing is on the report. Work with the executives in your group to assist them perceive this, and if attainable, be current within the room for his or her interviews so you may help in the event that they begin to go too far.
Editor’s Information Picks
Sherri Kolade is a author at Ragan Communications. When she just isn’t together with her household, she enjoys watching Alfred Hitchcock-style movies, studying and constructing an authentically curated life that features greater than often discovering one thing deliciously fried. Comply with her on LinkedIn. Have a fantastic PR story thought? E mail her at sherrik@ragan.com.
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