CNN’s own media reporter turns on embattled CEO

Chris Licht spoke on morning call after searing profile in ‘The Atlantic’

CNN's top media correspondent, Oliver Darcy, has issued a stark condemnation of the network's CEO in the wake of a brutal write-up in The Atlantic outlining discord at the company related to his leadership.

Darcy described staffers at the network who were "frustrated" and "angry" at the company's current direction in his newsletter on Monday.

“There are a wide range of emotions coursing through the halls of CNN. Some staffers are frustrated. Others are angry. Many are sad about the awful state of affairs that has taken hold of an organization they love,” he wrote. “There is one near-universal sentiment, however, that has been communicated to me: Licht has lost the room.”

Despite an apology Mr Licht offered on Monday, Darcy said it may be too little, too late for many disappointed CNN staffers.

“In the eyes of so many at CNN, there isn’t anything Licht can do at this point to win over their support,” Darcy wrote. “They’ve hit the wall with him. As one anchor texted me, in reference to Licht’s announcement on Monday that he will relocate his office to a newsroom floor at Hudson Yards: ‘We don’t want his office relocated to the 18th floor, we want it relocated out of the building.'”

Darcy may also be drawing from a personal experience with the company's CEO; Mr Licht reportedly summoned him to his office following the network's Trump Town Hall event and chastised him for being "too emotional" in his coverage, according to Puck's Dylan Byers.

Byers reported that Darcy and his editor were called in for a meeting with Mr Licht and “top executives in which they told him that his coverage of Trump town hall had been too emotional and stressed the importance of remaining dispassionate.”

Chris Licht (AFP via Getty Images)

Darcy had previously called the town hall event a "spectacle of lies" and implied it did more damage to the state of the country than it benefitted.

“Trump lied about the 2020 election. He took no responsibility for the January 6 insurrection that those very lies incited. And he mocked E. Jean Carroll’s allegations of sexual assault, which a jury found him liable for on Tuesday,” Darcy wrote in his newsletter after the event. “And CNN aired it all."

He wrote that it "felt like 2016 all over again."

"It was Trump’s unhinged social media feed brought to life on stage," Darcy wrote. "And Collins was put in an uncomfortable position, given the town hall was conducted in front of a Republican audience that applauded Trump, giving a sense of unintended endorsement to his shameful antics.”

The organization’s CEO has faced criticism from staff in the wake of the controversial Donald Trump town hall and a searing 15,000-word profile in The Atlantic.

Staff at the company have complained that the disastrous profile, released on Friday, showed poor judgement with CNN already suffering falling ratings.

Licht told staff on the 9am call that he did not recognise himself in the Inside the Meltdown at CNN profile, for which he gave reporter Tim Alberta months of unfettered access, reported CNBC.

The executive admitted during the call that he understands the frustrations of his staff and told them he will earn back their trust, people on the call told CNBC.

Licht did not explain exactly why he had agreed to the profile, which saw Alberta interview him during gym sessions and being given access to CNN programming rehearsals.

“I know these past few days have been very hard for this group. I fully recognize that this news cycle and my role in it overshadowed the incredible week of reporting that we just had, and distracted from the work of every single journalist in this organisation and for that, I am sorry,” Licht said, according to former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter on Twitter.

“As I read that article, I found myself thinking, CNN is not about me. I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about,” he continued.

And he added: “To those whose trust I’ve lost, I will fight like hell to win it back, because you deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world’s most trusted name in news.”

Licht didn’t specifically address why he participated in The Atlantic profile, which focused on issues including the launch of the network’s This Morning show featuring Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins; on moves to include more Republican voices and a perceived rightwards shift; and on the widely criticised Trump town hall.

Licht, 51, who previously worked on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, was appointed chairman and CEO of CNN in May last year following the exit of Jeff Zucker.

The Independent has reached out to CNN for comment.