Ousted CNN boss, Chris Licht, has torched legacy media - including his old colleagues - as being untrustworthy in a scathing speech about his former industry.
Licht, 53, was fired from CNN in June 2023 and has yet to reenter the media field after his dramatic removal.
On Tuesday, the former CEO sat down with Yahoo Finance to discuss how he thinks legacy media - which includes CNN, although he did not name the company directly - have lost their way with the American people.
The facts are that people have lost trust in legacy media, he told Yahoo Finance anchor Seana Smith.
Thats not me saying that, thats a demonstrable fact that has not happened in the last six months. That is something thats been happening for a long time and people are tuning out.
Even the companys election night coverage saw a huge downfall in viewership, with numbers falling below MSNBC for the time since the company launched, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
On Tuesday, Chris Licht sat down with Yahoo Finance to discuss the current industry and how he thinks legacy media - which includes CNN, although he did not name the company directly - have lost the people
The facts are that people have lost trust in legacy media. Thats not me saying that, thats a demonstrable fact that has not happened in the last six months. That is something thats been happening for a long time and people are tuning out, he said
CNN brought in 5.1 million viewers, while MSNBC had 6.01 million. Meanwhile, Fox News led with 10.32 million, according to THR.
During CNNs prime time shows in 2022 it saw an average of 828,000 viewers, significantly down from 2020 numbers, where it saw around 1.8 million, according to Pew Research Center.
MSNBC saw slightly lower numbers than CNN, while Fox News bulldozed the both of them with a 2.1 million average viewers in 2022 and 3.1 million in 2020.
Licht, who started in local news, thinks legacy media needs to find a way to reconnect with people and become relevant in their lives again.
He acknowledge that viewership was weakened due to a low-trust society between consumers and the media and between fact and fiction.
There is trusted sources of information and then theres trusted opinion, and I think those two worlds need to be very separate, he told Yahoo Finance.
I think part of the problem is theyve kind of co-mingled and you know media organizations will try very hard to say: "No, no, no, this is our newsgathering and this is our opinion," but in the world, people dont make that distinction I have found.
Someones got to figure out how to restore trust and that these are the facts and then let people people go and have their opinions.
Licht, who started in local news, thinks legacy media needs to find a way to reconnect with people and become relevant in their lives again
He went on to say that readers and viewers need to go armed with what the actual facts are, rather than being told what to think or having the truth spun in many ways.
We used to have one set of facts and then you could have 30 discussions around that set of facts. Now you have 30 sets of facts and a thousand discussions around those sets of facts. And that has to change or were in big trouble as a society, he said.
He and Smith also discussed the rise of fake news - a phrased coined by President-Elect Donald Trump that began during his first presidency.
Although Licht believes its larger than just a Trump presidency, his advice to his former colleagues was to swing at the pitches that are thrown.
Dont say: "Well this means this and that means thats going to happen." Say: "He did this," and then lets discuss what that means. Not: "Well this is going to mean this," because a lot of times the media gets in trouble when they predict things.
I would say theres been a lot of - as an observer - a lot of hyperbole around what a Trump presidency will mean and its the end of democracy.
CNNs dropping numbers have caused staff to become scared and frustrated about looming layoffs.
Stars including Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer have reportedly been denied raises on their multi-million-dollar salaries as the biggest names on the network fear for their futures.
On-screen favorite Chris Wallace also departed the network earlier this week, although he insisted that he did so on his own terms. Other staffers are worried more layoffs are coming, after the company laid off 100 earlier this year
On-screen favorite Chris Wallace also departed the network earlier this week, although he insisted that he did so on his own terms.
A longtime CNN employee told Fox News that after news of the layoffs spread, staff across the company are left feeling very sad and deeply frustrated.
Feelings which are pervasive throughout the organization among those who have been here a long time and feel a deep personal connection to having helped build the organization, the anonymous staffer added.
News of CNNs budget cuts and layoffs first spread after an explosive report from Puck News, warning that network executives are set to take drastic action to save the companys flailing reputation.
Although there is no mention of who may be on the chopping block, it is feared that the cuts could hit everyone from low-level staff to those such as Anderson Cooper and his $20 million-a-year salary.
In the next few months, I’m told, CNN will implement another round of layoffs that will impact hundreds of employees across the organization, reporter Dylan Byers wrote Friday, referencing CNNs recent 100-person layoff seen over the summer.
The fresh round of firings, the insiders said, will be more geared toward the production side of the company - but on-screen talent will be impacted too.