Former CNN president Jeff Zucker told students at Yale University that he was led to believe that the network’s former bosses used his relationship with Allison Golst as a pretext to fire him, sources familiar with his comments said. told the new York Times,
Zucker said, “I gave them a gun, and they shot me with it.”
Zucker’s sudden resignation in February 2022 prompted Golst, his longtime lieutenant and head of the network. chief marketing officer, Golst, who had worked with Zucker for decades and rejoined CNN in 2013 as his “closest aide”, was identified as the woman with whom he had a “consensual relationship”. He didn’t disclose it to AT&T, the owner of CNN at the time. , in clear violation of company policies.
Golst resigned two weeks after Zucker’s ouster and the WarnerMedia investigation of Chris Cuomo and his efforts to help his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. “The investigation found violations of company policies, including CNN’s news standards and practices by Jeff Zucker, Allison Golst and Chris Cuomo,” CEO Jason Kilar said in a memo.
Zucker and Golst have continued their relationship in the open, traveling to Las Vegas to see Taylor Swift in concert and attending the Sports Emmy Awards at the invitation of Bryant Gumbel and Matt Lauer.
Zucker frequently expressed frustration with the network and dissatisfaction with the terms of his ouster, but criticism of current head Chris Licht also grew louder as time went on. According to the Times, Zucker has become a favorite figure for the network’s current employees, who have complaints about Licht’s choice of direction.
Zucker told The Times through his spokeswoman, Risa Heller, “It is completely uncharacteristic that Jeff Zucker, the architect of CNN’s phenomenal success, would have a deep misgiving about the direction of the network since his departure.”
But the network’s figures justify the criticism. The news division, which once made $1 billion in annual profits, will earn just $750 million in 2022, $200 million of which Warner Bros. Discovery said was due to losses from the CNN+ streaming service. Furthermore, according to Nielsen data, ratings have declined 30% compared to the first quarter of 2020, when Donald Trump was a big driver of cable news.
CNN’s town hall with Trump in May proved to be one of Licht’s more notable slips in recent months. According to reporter Tim Alberta’s recent profile of the executive to the atlantic, Licht knew that the makeup of the crowd was skewed more towards MAGA enthusiasts than the “GOP-leaning independents” CNN had originally claimed would occupy these seats. Ahead of the town hall, Licht also made a remark to his delegates about the crowd being “extra Trumpy”.
As Licht employees leak their organization’s failures to other outlets, many on the left have criticized the network’s renewed focus on the right. Meanwhile, many on the right remain skeptical of the network as a whole.
Zucker’s criticism of the network has ruffled many feathers in WBD, according to sources who spoke with The Times, who also suspect that “Zucker leaked unflattering information about the network’s operations to the press” and that “Waging a proxy war against Lich”.
Meanwhile, Zucker told The Times through his spokeswoman, Risa Heller, “It is completely uncharacteristic that Jeff Zucker, the architect of CNN’s phenomenal success, would have a deep misgiving about the direction of the network since his departure.”
