(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Chris Licht, the new head honcho at CNN, has issued open warnings to figureheads at the network, requesting they tone down the “opinionated reporting,” Slay News reported.
Don Lemon and Jim Acosta—as well as their agents and some reporters—have been subject of this internal criticism.
The Daily Beast reported that Licht is also calling for a truce with Fox News.
Although Licht doesn’t officially start until May, evidence of these changes has already come to a head.
Recently CNN hosts that are known for aggressive coverage of Fox News, such as Lemon, Acosta and Brian Stelter, have scaled back. There are also rumors of hiring former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace as the face of their morning show, hoping to bring in a neutral face to balance expectations.
Licht is also reportedly looking for a return to “hard news,” letting go the “Trump-era ‘resistance’ tone,” and getting back to real facts. The expectation for Licht’s CNN is to see more “boots-on-the-ground” reporting and fewer partisan panels.
This is a big shift for most CNN pundits, who have dedicated a great deal of time to covering Fox and former President Donald Trump.
Stelter, for instance, wrote a book titled Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth. Lemon and other hosts consistently made outrageous, hyperbolic claims about Trump.
Last, but not least, Licht appears to be preparing to clean house at CNN. The futures of executives such as Michael Bass and Andrew Morse are uncertain. Stelter’s career may also be on the chopping block.
The largest shareholder of CNN’s new owner, John Malone, is a Trump donor and billionaire looking to right the ship at CNN, saying he wants to “dismantle” and turn it into a better news outlet.
