After Jeff Zucker’s Exit, CNN Staffers Grow Skeptical of WarnerMedia, Discovery
variety.comBrian Steinberg Senior TV EditorCNN staffers who spend a lot of time delivering the latest headlines may have something else to give their corporate overseers: a raised middle finger.Executives who run companies like WarnerMedia and Discovery spend much of their time these days trying to keep investors enthused about their prospects, even as the consumers who watch their movies and TV shows keep moving away to new streaming venues.
Now they may have to take up some of their hours soothing a roiled staff at CNN, where many employees remain furious about the ouster of Jeff Zucker, the company’s president for the past nine years.
After all, CNN remains a pivotal part of WarnerMedia, which is slated to merge with Discovery in a deal expected to close within weeks. “It has been an emotional tornado, the equivalent of going back to your block and looking around and seeing what the tornado has done and trying to figure out how you even sort of pick up the pieces,” one longtime employee tells Variety.
Some staffers believe the WarnerMedia decision was “impulsive,” according to another source, and ties between CNN employees and the company that employs them appear “strained” — a mood demonstrated in the past 24 hours when Jason Kilar, CEO of WarnerMedia, visited employees at CNN’s Washington, D.C.
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