Chris Licht, the new president of CNN, is settling into one of the most challenging jobs in news, and questions abound regarding how he will guide the network out of the extreme turmoil it has faced over the last year. A major step in his plan to bring CNN back to the center? Convincing Republican officials back on its airwaves.
Puck’s Dylan Byers has done a good job of gleaning Licht’s initial vision for CNN, which mostly involves a desire to restore the network’s reputation as a high-minded place for proper journalism. That’s a shift away from the partisan chest-thumping that became pervasive on the network in the last few years of Jeff Zucker’s leadership.
After neatly summarizing the current state of play in cable news — in which MSNBC viewers are led to believe that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s rhetoric represents all Republicans, and Fox News viewers see Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the Democratic standard-bearer — Byers explains what he sees as Licht’s vision:
According to the people that I talk to in and around CNN, Licht sees this opportunity. He aspires to elevate the conversation and provide viewpoints that better reflect the full spectrum of public opinion. And frankly, he wants to make the content smarter, a decibel lower, and above the my-side boosterism. That sort of adult conversation sophistication has been a hallmark of his career from Morning Joe, which still features the most insightful political conversation on morning TV, to CBS This Morning and even Colbert. Perceptive CNN viewers will notice that he’s already removed the constant “breaking news” banner, toned down the chyrons and introduced a far more measured tone to the website’s headlines.
The DEK of the article succinctly poses the goals and challenges Licht faces: “Sure, an adult-table bastion of centrist upscale cable news sounds fantastic, especially since Fox News and MSNBC have totally abdicated the middle. But can it still be done, and will it rate?”
Given Byers’ recent track record on all things CNN, Discovery, and the media figures involved (seriously, has any reporter more single-handedly dominated as massive media as Byer has on this?) we can take his analysis of the Licht strategy at face value. It also follows Occam’s Razor by simply making the most sense.
But how should Licht go about executing this strategy? I posit that the first step in reclaiming the center is convincing Republican elected officials to come back on CNN airwaves for meaningful, policy-based interviews. And yes, I am fully aware that this idea will bring much chagrin to Daily Show writer Matt Negrin, who is a vocal critic of what he sees as a media bias that favors platforming Republicans. (Sidenote? Negrin’s Chagrin is a terrific name for a podcast, Matt.)
Yes, booking political officials from either party presents its own challenges as most politicians are really effective at not telling the truth. Calling out blatant misinformation presented by an elected official is not just good television, but also good for the country in general.
There was a time not that long ago when CNN viewers regularly saw substantive interviews between Republican lawmakers and anchors asking tough questions. The Chris Cuomo–Alisyn Camerota era of New Day benefited from terrific bookings and insightful discussions.
The bookings weren’t always fruitful. Other CNN programs were more craven, settling for the insights of the Washington Generals of cable news, Jeffrey Lord (remember him?)
But then Donald Trump effectively called for a jihad against CNN, stoking a rivalry fueled in part by the network’s full-throated and relentless anti-Trump coverage (coverage that was not unwarranted, it’s worth adding!) The conflict got so heated that a Trump supporter mailed pipe bombs (or fake pipe bombs) to CNN talent, among others. Things were beyond ugly. Before long, Republican officials stopped showing up on CNN entirely, save a few Never-Trumpers eager to offer the same message as everyone else on the network.
To illustrate the evolution of CNNs’ punditry, take a look at those booked to offer a conservative voice in recent years, and where they are now. Can anyone truly say that, for example, Ana Navarro is a Republican? That may say more about how the Republican Party has evolved under Trump, but it also reveals one of the many challenges Licht faces.
Broadly speaking, Licht’s objectives are two-fold: 1) Restore CNN’s reputation as a news-based, centrist, outlet with people across the political spectrum; and 2) restore its appeal to the right and center-right, which have abandoned it entirely.
These aren’t precisely the same thing, considering what MAGA has done to the Republican party, and considering that most of the mainstream press considers Fox News extreme right-wing and, therefore, most Republicans. Further, restoring access to the right (objective 2) may very well undermine CNN’s credibility with the broader set of viewers (objective 1.)
The path forward? 1) Book non-extremist Republican and Democratic officials and 2) Prepare well-informed anchors to push back on false or misleading rhetoric. If anyone is up for pushing this boulder up the mountain, it’s Licht.
A successful progenitor of the cable news model I’m describing is Morning Joe, the MSNBC morning show Licht launched many moons ago. Is Morning Joe centrist? Depends on who is adjudging its politics, to be frank, but it’s more in the middle than nearly any other show of equal influence.
So why exactly will CNN benefit from booking non-extremist Republican voices to its air? Because viewers are in dire need of hearing opposing points of view to penetrate the partisan bubbles so many live in, which are hermetically sealed by the opinion programs that are regularly consumed. The vast majority of Democrats and Republicans are not extremist lunatics, and CNN can reintroduce a civil discourse that can ideally heal a wounded body politic.
There are reasons to question whether Licht can actually pull this off. He was also tasked with turning around CBS This Morning, and while he did make significant improvements, the show remains comfortably in third place. The undertaking was such a huge lift that I am certain Licht was delighted to hop off that ride to join The Late Show with Stephen Colbert as showrunner. He also created, with Colbert and others, Our Cartoon President, which, quality aside, might be a tough line item on his resume for future Republican guests to get past.
All of this is to say that cable news desperately needs to return to panel discussions that explore issues from different perspectives, instead of preaching to an increasingly furious choir. Dayside Fox News programming might just be the best network at having guests from the other side of the aisle on its airwaves, largely because no Republicans will go on CNN and MSNBC has no interest in speaking with them.
Licht’s reported desire to reclaim the center of kitchen table issues may be a tough sell, and it may not even rate.
CNN earns roughly one billion in profit each year, so if that level of revenue can be maintained while its programming works to restore its reputation across the political spectrum? That would be a huge win, regardless of ratings. And lest we forget, journalism was never supposed to be entertainment.
It wouldn’t just be a win for CNN and Licht, but for the body politic as well.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
