Some of CNN’s biggest liberal stars, who were ousted under previous leadership, have been returning on-air in recent weeks, marking another shift away from mission one. make the network less biased,
It’s been almost a year since CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, fired the network’s embattled CEO Chris Licht, who was brought in to restore the journalistic credibility lost by CNN during the Trump era.
Changes made by Licht included personnel matters, notably dismissing some of the most anti-Trump voices who had helped redefine CNN as a news organization aligned with MSNBC, which Has openly adopted his far-left stance. However, at least three of them have crawled back onto CNN’s broadcasts.
CNN continues to walk back decisions made by its ousted CEO Chris Licht. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Jeffrey Toobin, who was CNN’s chief legal analyst, “decided” to exit CNN after 20 years in August 2022, although it was widely believed that he was forced out by the Licht ruling. Tobin is perhaps best known for getting caught masturbating During a Zoom meeting with his New Yorker colleagues in October 2020. At that time, he was fired from The New Yorker, but was given a leave of absence by CNN and was eventually welcomed back the following year under Licht’s predecessor, Jeff Zucker.
Toobin has made a notable resurgence in recent weeks, making at least 20 CNN appearances, many of them discussing former President Trump’s hush money trial. He is often introduced to audiences as a “former federal prosecutor”.
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Jeffrey Toobin, who left CNN in 2022 after the Zoom masturbation scandal, has been appearing regularly on the network in recent weeks. (Screenshot/CNN)
Don Lemon, another longtime CNN star, was fired last April after several tumultuous months, including losing his solo primetime show, off-set drama at his new morning show and rumors about Nikki Haley. included his controversial “past her prime” comments.
Last month, Lemon appeared on CNN again to speak about his X deal with Elon Musk canceled “Erin Burnett Outfront.”
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In a recent interview, Lemon left the door open About to officially return to CNN.
“Look, I would never say,” Lemon said, “that most people who were The people involved in my removal are gone, And so this is the kind of place it was, you know, before I got there. So that will be interesting.”
Don Lemon discussed his feud with Elon Musk on CNN last month. (Screenshot/CNN)
Brian Stelter, former chief media correspondent for CNN Was fired in August 2022 This followed Licht’s decision to cancel the network’s long-running media-focused Sunday show “Reliable Sources”, which Stelter had hosted since 2013.
Stelter, who made a handful of appearances on CNN during a book tour late last year, appeared again twice during Tuesday’s coverage of the Trump trial. He was introduced as a “special correspondent for Vanity Fair”.
When asked if he returned to CNN permanently, Stelter responded that he was “just visiting.”
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A source familiar with Tobin, Lemon and Stelter’s recent appearance said fox news digital That they were merely “guests” and that there has been no discussion about bringing them back in an official capacity.
Although the three ex-CNNers may no longer be on the network’s payroll, their return to the network’s airwaves remains a signal of the current CNN staff’s strong rebuke against decisions made in the Leech era.
Former CNN host Brian Stelter was invited back to the network as part of its coverage of the Trump hush money trial. (Screenshot/CNN)
Licht was chosen by David Zaslav, head of Warner Bros. Discovery, to correct CNN, which continues to lose viewers and has been tainted by a liberal, anti-Trump leanings previously adopted by Zucker, who himself was at the receiving end of the scandal. Beach was ousted in February 2022.
During his roughly one-year tenure, Licht struggled to earn the trust of CNN’s rank and file, who rejected claims that the network had a liberal bias, which Licht was hired to address. Was. The beginning of the end of Licht’s time at CNN was the now infamous Trump town hall in May 2023 incited open rebellion among your employees. The following month, after facing further backlash over comments made in a profile published by The Atlantic, Leach was canned.
In addition to rolling out the red carpet for the CNN employees he fired, Licht’s programming decisions also appear to have been reversed. “CNN This Morning,” Licht’s effort to revive the Zucker-era flagship morning show “New Day” was essentially scrapped earlier this year as part of a weekday programming overhaul (“Early Start ” was specifically rebranded as “CNN This Morning”).
Licht’s other brainchild, CNN’s weekly primetime experiment “King Charles” starring CBS host Gayle King and former NBA superstar turned TNT sports analyst Charles Barkley, quietly ended its limited run this month after disappointing viewership numbers. Gave.
CNN quietly ended “King Charles” earlier this month after poor ratings for the struggling network. (Screenshot/CNN)
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“King Charles”, which began airing in November months after Leitch’s firing, debuted to just 501,000 total viewers, but its audience subsided only after (CNN repeatedly pointed to strong streaming numbers, which were never made public). While CNN had always branded “King Charles” as a limited series, this was certainly an effort to help juice the network’s audience by recruiting big-name outside talent.
Amid programming reversals and the return of previously ousted on-air personalities, Leitch’s permanent footprint at CNN has diminished even further.
