CNN Senior Media Reporter Says Chris Licht ‘Has Lost the Room’

thewrap.com:

brutal portrait of his reign as CNN CEO in The Atlantic, but his apology to staffers in its aftermath fell largely on deaf ears, the network’s media reporter Oliver Darcy said.“In the wake of The Atlantic’s explosive story, I’ve spoken with dozens of staffers across the company,” Oliver Darcy said in the “Reliable Sources” newsletter late 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.”“There is one near-universal sentiment, however, that has been communicated to me: Licht has lost the room.”Licht, who was portrayed in The Atlantic piece as someone who was out of tune with his own newsroom, told staffers Monday that he will relocate his office to a newsroom floor.

But Darcy said that sort of effort is landing flat.“As one anchor texted me,” Darcy wrote, “‘We don’t want his office relocated to the 18th floor, we want it relocated out of the building.'”That remark and similar sentiment from other staffers came despite what appeared to be an evolution from Licht’s previous interactions with staff. “Staffers could hear the raw emotion in his voice as he spoke,” Darcy wrote. “And he invited feedback and offered self-reflection in a way that represented a marked departure from how he has governed in the past.”“But Licht, notably, did not apologize for having disparaged CNN’s previous journalism, an omission in his remarks that did not go unnoticed by staffers, particularly the network’s health unit which has been infuriated by the attacks he leveled against the outlet’s Covid-19 coverage,” Darcy continued.