The Rise and Fall of Chris Licht and CNN

The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta spent long stretches of the past year talking with CNN’s then-CEO Chris Licht about his grand experiment to reset the cable giant as a venue more welcoming to Republicans. In a major profile of Licht, Alberta documented the many disasters along the way, which culminated in Licht’s ouster from the network this week.

In this episode of Radio Atlantic, I talk with Alberta about the rise and fall of Licht, and what it means for the media.

“This is a guy who had been working 80-hour weeks since he took the job and had been really pouring himself into trying to remake CNN into something different and something new,” Alberta recalled of the period leading up to a disastrous CNN town hall with Donald Trump that Licht oversaw. He had, “with the world watching, failed,” Alberta said. “And that was crushing for him.”

Alberta watched the implosion at CNN up close in real time. I ask him: Did Licht’s mission to redefine journalism fail because of Licht or because it is a fundamentally misguided mission?

Listen to the conversation here:

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The following is a transcript of the episode:

Tim Alberta: It was apparent to me immediately when I saw Chris after the town hall ended that he knew this wasn’t good.

Hanna Rosin: “Chris” is Chris Licht, the former CEO of CNN, who was ousted this week. And that’s my colleague Tim Alberta, who’s been reporting on Licht for the past year.

Alberta: This is a guy who I’ve gotten to know decently well over the past year or so, a guy who’s just got a bottomless supply of self-confidence.

And, in that moment, when the town hall ended and I met him in the lobby, he was pale. His shoulders were sort of slumped. He looked distressed. Thoroughly distressed.

Rosin: I’m Hanna Rosin, and this is Radio Atlantic. You may have read about the Trump town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, that CNN aired last month. Maybe you even watched it. The event was part of Licht’s broader mission to signal that Republicans, and even Trump supporters, were welcome at CNN again.

Which was connected to an even bigger mission, one that Licht defined as getting back to real journalism: truths, facts, and less spin. Instead, CNN lost control of the town hall. Trump used it as a forum to double down on lies about the 2020 election, among other unsavory things. It was pretty much universally considered a disaster, and backstage, right after the event, Licht knew it.

It was a deeply human moment where, I think, a guy who—you know, agree with his decisions, disagree with his decisions, whatever—this is a guy who had been working, like, 80 hour weeks since he took the job and had been really pouring himself into trying to remake CNN into something different and something new, and had in this moment with the world