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CNN’s Anderson Cooper slams ousted boss Chris Licht and says he doesn’t ‘know what the point of all that was’ – as he changes tune on network hosting Trump town hall : INTERNEWSCAST

Anderson Cooper has slammed ousted CNN boss Chris Licht, saying he does not ‘know what the point of all that was’.

Licht was unceremoniously fired in June, the last straw a devastating piece in The Atlantic where over 100 staffers questioned his ability to lead.

In a New York Times Magazine profile, Cooper – in his 20th year hosting Anderson Cooper 360 and 21st overall at CNN – was heavily critical of Licht’s brief tenure.

When pressed on Licht’s mandate and diagnosis of CNN as overly liberal, Cooper said: ‘I don’t know what Chris Licht’s analysis was.

‘I don’t have much confidence that I actually know what he was thinking. That’s a problem. I mean, I read things in the paper, but I’m not sure what the point of it all was.’

CNN primetime host Anderson Cooper had harsh words for former CEO and boss Chris Licht , including the network's controversial flop town hall with former President Donald Trump

CNN primetime host Anderson Cooper had harsh words for former CEO and boss Chris Licht , including the network’s controversial flop town hall with former President Donald Trump

Licht, who had been brought on last May to overhaul the network, cleanse it of its left-wing bias and boost ratings, was fired in June, the last straw a devastating piece in The Atlantic where over 100 staffers questioned his ability to lead

Licht, who had been brought on last May to overhaul the network, cleanse it of its left-wing bias and boost ratings, was fired in June, the last straw a devastating piece in The Atlantic where over 100 staffers questioned his ability to lead

He told interviewer David Marchese that he ‘didn’t have a ton of communications’ with Licht despite being the network’s highest profile anchor. 

‘I don’t want to make it sound like I never had meetings with him,’ he noted. ‘I did have meetings with him. I just think the things he viewed as his more immediate concerns did not involve me.’ 

Cooper feels that this was because Cooper is ‘not an opinion host,’ whereas Licht allegedly pushed hosts like Don Lemon and Jim Acosta away from opinionated reporting.

‘I’m talking to people from different sides and trying to be straight down the middle and represent things fairly and accurately. I keep my head down. I just try to do the best I can.’ 

He also opened up about the CNN town hall with former President Donald Trump, which at the time, Cooper somewhat defended on the air. 

When pressed on whether or not he would’ve done it, he said ‘I don’t think the first time Donald Trump came back on CNN – I wouldn’t have done a town hall, and if he’d said no, I would have said fine, then he’s not on. But that’s not my choice, I wasn’t involved.’

Cooper noted that he was ‘not sure’ he’d have the former president on his show now. 

The host admitted he saw both sides of the aisle’s feelings in his remarks immediately following the town hall. 

Cooper also opened up about the CNN town hall with former President Trump

Cooper also opened up about the CNN town hall with former President Trump

‘You have every right to be outraged and angry and never watch this network again but do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?’ he asked at the time.

When asked about his feelings on it by Marchese, Cooper said: ‘I defended the concept of hearing from the person who’s the front-runner in the Republican Party.’

However, he also questioned the validity of the town hall and said he believed the criticisms of the network were fair to some extent.

‘There was a steep learning curve in figuring out how to deal with a candidate who is completely willing to lie and lies repeatedly and often. There’s a shamelessness in that and only so much you can do about it from a reporting standpoint.’   

‘Then there’s questions about, well, should there have been a town hall? Should there have been a live event? Should there have been an audience? All those are completely fair,’ he added.

‘I still believe that person can be challenged in an interview.’

Licht’s departure capped a tumultuous year marked by layoffs, shrinking profits, low ratings, the firing of two anchors, and rock-bottom employee morale.

The final nail in the coffin was a damning Atlantic article – which saw more than 100 CNN employees questioning his ability to lead the organization into the future.

‘This was an exciting but incredibly challenging assignment and I learned a lot over the past 13 months,’ Licht said in a statement. 

‘I’ve been lucky enough to have had a successful, fulfilling career and I look forward to my next chapter. I wish the team at CNN the very best, always.’

Licht was brought on to overhaul the network in May last year, following the departure of long-serving boss Jeff Zucker and after the firing of Chris Cuomo, its most successful anchor. 

His mission was to cleanse the network of its inherent left-wing bias and boost ratings.

Instead, he insulated himself in a corporate office on the 22nd floor – five floors above the newsroom – and seemed constantly unavailable to staff who were disgusted with his efforts to bring the network back to the political center. 

Ratings plummeted to their lowest ever, aside from the disastrous Trump town hall with Kaitlan Collins which was a campaign victory for Trump but an assault on CNN

Ratings plummeted to their lowest ever, aside from the disastrous Trump town hall with Kaitlan Collins which was a campaign victory for Trump but an assault on CNN

Ratings plummeted to their lowest ever, aside from the disastrous Trump town hall with Kaitlan Collins which was a campaign victory for Trump but an assault on CNN.  

Licht had been cooperating with The Atlantic since November for its profile piece.

He provided extraordinary access to not just himself but also to hosts, studios and staff. 

In the 15,000-word piece, he spoke disparagingly of the network’s staff and how they’d covered topics before he came on board. 

Mimicking their approach, he said: ‘COVID, COVID, COVID! Look at the case numbers! Look at this! Look at this!’ 

‘[There was] No context. And, you know, the kind of shaming. And then people walked outside and they go, ‘This is not my life. This is not my reality. 

‘You guys are just saying this because you need the ratings, you need the clicks. I don’t trust you.’

Among them the staff’s religiously negative coverage of Donald Trump. Licht said Trump had ‘played them’ and that under his tenure, it would be different.

‘The media has absolutely, I believe, learned its lesson. I think they know that he’s playing them—at least, the people in my organization. We’ve had discussions about this. We know that we’re getting played, so we’re gonna resist it,’ he said. 

He also made made self-congratulatory comments about his own life and lifestyle, calling himself a ‘f****g machine’ for losing 50lbs by skipping meals. 

Licht's strategy included an hour-long town hall with Donald Trump. It boosted ratings but saw the former president railroad Kaitlan Collins and enrage staff who were furious that Trump had been given a platform

Licht’s strategy included an hour-long town hall with Donald Trump. It boosted ratings but saw the former president railroad Kaitlan Collins and enrage staff who were furious that Trump had been given a platform 

Among Licht's efforts to revive the network was his morning show, CNN This Morning. He brought lightning-rod host Don Lemon down from an evening primetime slot to co-host the show with Poppy Harlow, a veteran reporter, and rising star Kaitlan Collins

Among Licht’s efforts to revive the network was his morning show, CNN This Morning. He brought lightning-rod host Don Lemon down from an evening primetime slot to co-host the show with Poppy Harlow, a veteran reporter, and rising star Kaitlan Collins

He brought The Atlantic’s reporter with him to his celebrity gym, and boasted: ‘Zucker couldn’t do this s**t’ after a workout. 

DailyMail.com revealed that he had in fact been boasting about taking Ozempic as far back as 2021.  

There were also damning anecdotes from staffers about how cold and disinterested he was. 

Some described how he sat at a holiday dinner in Washington DC scrolling on his phone, reading news stories about himself, rather than engaging with those around him. 

The Atlantic’s piece chronicled Licht’s failure and staffers’ eroding faith in him in great detail. 

By March, staff had begun to wonder ‘not just where their boss was’ but ‘what he was doing’ but according to the profile, Licht did not buy into their anxiety. He defended the plummeting ratings and claimed his boss had told him ratings mattered less than ‘reputation’. 

‘CNN, for Warner Bros. Discovery, is a reputational asset. My boss believes that a strong CNN is good for the world and important to the portfolio.’   

Licht apologized to staff on the morning call yesterday.

‘This experience has been tremendously humbling. And to those whose trust I lost I will fight like hell to win it back,’ he said. By Tuesday, it was all over. 

Amy Entelis, the long-serving VP of talent, will steer the network along with three other long-serving executives, until a permanent replacement is found

Virginia Moseley, EVP of editorial, is also in a key role

Amy Entelis, the long-serving VP of talent, will steer the network along with three other long-serving executives, until a permanent replacement is found. Virginia Moseley, EVP of editorial, is also in a key role

Eric Sherling, EVP of US programming

COO David Leavy

Eric Sherling, EVP of US programming, and COO David Leavy were also named as interim leaders 

Licht took over from Jeff Zucker in May last year after Zucker’s affair with Allison Gollust was revealed. 

As part of his strategy to bring the network back to the political center, he greenlit an hour-long town hall with Donald Trump that saw the former president railroad host Kaitlan Collins. 

The special disgusted long-time employees, who said Trump should never have been given a platform. 

The town hall boosted ratings significantly, but only temporarily. In recent days, viewer numbers trailed the more conservative and significantly less established Newsmax. 

In an effort to breathe new life into the network, Licht also wielded major upheaval with its roster of talent. 

As part of it, he moved Don Lemon – beloved by his audience – out of his long-held primetime slot and into a morning show with Collins and Poppy Harlow. 

Lemon and Collins clashed repeatedly on-air and behind-the-scenes which made for an uncomfortable on-air chemistry. 

Don Lemon, a network stalwart, was fired after making a series of sexist remarks on Licht’s newly-conceived morning show, CNN This Morning. 

Out too was media correspondent Brian Stelter and John Harwood, a veteran White House correspondent. 

Licht's wife Jenny Blanco is a fellow TV producer who worked at CNN before Licht came onboard

Licht’s wife Jenny Blanco is a fellow TV producer who worked at CNN before Licht came onboard 

Before CNN, Licht’s background was in producing cable news shows including MSNBC’s Morning Joe and CBS This Morning.

Among his first tasks at CNN was to axe its ill-fated streaming service CNN+, a service which had brought on 400 new jobs.

Licht oversaw their redundancies, then implemented a second round of cuts months later. 

His plan for CNN was to make it more appealing as a source of entertainment and not just breaking news in times of crisis. 

To achieve that, he tried to soften the approach of hosts like Lemon, who was scolded for offering po-faced commentary on morning segments.

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