Warner Bros. Discovery named British media executive Mark Thompson CEO of CNN on Wednesday and tasked the former New York Times and BBC chief with reviving a news network beset by falling ratings, falling profits and negative headlines .
Thompson – who ran the infamous left-wing BBC and Times – takes over after Chris Licht was fired in June after a rough year as boss, including a divisive town hall with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, the closure of the streaming service CNN+. weeks after launch and a terrible profile in the Atlantic Ocean.
With Thompson, 66, WBD boss David Zaslav is turning to a manager with experience at the highest level of the news world, unlike Licht – a former TV producer who had worked on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
“There is no more experienced, respected or capable executive in the news industry today than Mark, and we are thrilled to have him join our team and lead CNN Worldwide into the future,” Zaslav said in a statement.
The terms of Thompson’s contract with CNN, including his salary, were not disclosed in the announcement.
Warner Bros. Discovery named Mark Thompson (above) as CEO of CNN on Wednesday
The veteran media manager began his career at the British Broadcasting Corporation, joining in 1979 as a production trainee, eventually becoming editor of Nine O’Clock News and Panorama and later director of television.
He left the BBC in 2002 to become CEO of Channel 4, but returned when he was appointed Director General in May 2004, a position he held until 2012.
At the BBC, Thompson ran an extensive series of TV, radio and digital newsrooms, and led the development of the BBC iPlayer, the world’s first streaming service from a major broadcaster.
During his eight-year tenure as CEO of the liberal New York Times from 2012 to 2020, Thompson helped transform the Gray Lady into a beacon for newspapers in the Internet age by focusing on digital subscriptions.
The Times’ share price has increased nearly fivefold over the period, outperforming the S&P 500 index by a wide margin.
Since 2020, he is chairman of the genealogy website Ancestry.
At CNN, Thompson will lead the network’s strategy, operations and business units, and act as editor-in-chief, ultimately responsible for all CNN content and overseeing the 4,000 employees worldwide. He will begin in the role on October 9.
“I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to join CNN after years of looking at it and battling it with a mixture of admiration and envy,” Thompson said.
“The world needs accurate, reliable news now more than ever and we’ve never had so many ways to meet that need, both at home and abroad,” he added.
‘Where others see disruption, I see opportunities. I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and work with my new colleagues to build a successful future for CNN.”
WBD boss David Zaslav (left) tapped Thomson to steer the ship right after firing Chris Licht (right) – a former TV producer who had worked on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
Jeff Zucker served as president of CNN for nearly a decade until he was forced to leave in February 2022, sparking 18 months of palace intrigue at the network
Thompson (right) seen in 2017. At CNN, Thompson will lead the network’s strategy, operations and business units, and serve as editor-in-chief
Born in London, Thompson was knighted for his services to the media in the June 2023 King’s Birthday Honours.
In his spare time, according to Semafor, Thompson likes to spend time at his home in Maine.
He also holds a range of prestigious board positions at cultural institutions, including the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Thompson’s appointment to CNN follows a tumultuous 18 months of palace intrigue at the news network, beginning with the ousting of longtime boss Jeff Zucker last year.
Zucker, 58, resigned from CNN in February 2022 after it emerged he had been having a secret romance with his top lieutenant, Allison Gollust, CNN’s executive vice president and one of the network’s top leaders.
Last month, Zucker denied a report in Variety that he had spent the past year trying to raise backing to buy the network from WBD, allegedly approaching billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Roman Abramovich and Gulf sheikhs to raise their investments. encourage.
WBD, which completed the merger to become CNN’s new parent company in April 2022, appointed Licht as the new network boss, but his tenure has been marked by controversy.
Unlike Zucker, who enjoyed loyal support in the CNN newsroom, Licht’s tenure was marked by staff discontent that sometimes bordered on open rebellion.
In May, Licht presided over the Trump town hall event, which was openly denounced as disastrous by some of the network’s well-known on-air talent.
The Atlantic published a devastating profile of Licht in June that sealed the director’s fate
Tasked by Zaslav to shed the network’s left-wing image and transform it into a down-the-middle, facts-first news organization, Licht’s programming moves and management style confused many staffers.
The nadir came in May, when Licht presided over Trump’s town hall, which was openly denounced as disastrous by some of the network’s well-known broadcasting talents.
At town hall, Trump repeated his false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen, criticizing CNN interviewer Kaitlan Collins as an “annoying person,” while an audience of the former president’s die-hard fans cheered and applauded.
Veteran CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour has publicly criticized City Hall in comments made against graduating students at Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism.
Weeks later, The Atlantic published a devastating profile of Licht that sealed the director’s fate.
The 15,000-word article offered a devastating insight into Licht’s first year, which included the firing of controversial host Don Lemon, the company moving away from former CEO Zucker’s vision, and destroying CNN’s COVID coverage.