CNN

David Leavy, a top executive at Warner Bros. Discovery, as been named COO of CNN Worldwide. Leavy will oversee commercial, operational and promotional activities across the network. The move is effective on June 20. Leavy currently is chief corporate affairs officer for Warner Bros. Discovery, and will maintain public policy and social responsibility oversight on behalf of Warner Bros. Discovery. He has been with Discovery for 23 years.

CNN will shift the bulk of its operations behind its Spanish-language efforts to Mexico City, scaling back production of content for linear television in favor of work aimed at reaching a younger audience that favors mobile video. The move is likely to mean the elimination of jobs in Miami and Atlanta, but will also result in a ramp-up of jobs in Mexico and Los Angeles, where CNN will aim to add more than staffers, according to a person familiar with the plans, which were disclosed to employees Thursday afternoon.

Mike Pence is be next in line to conduct a Republican presidential primary town hall on CNN, with chief political corespondent Dana Bash as moderator, following in the footsteps of his former boss Donald Trump and new rival Nikki Haley.

Jake Tapper will be the moderator this go around, and the town hall will take place on Sunday, June 4, at 8 p.m. ET, with a live audience from Iowa.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief foreign correspondent — or someone equally well-versed in the purpose and value of journalism, a real reporter — should be at the top of an organization dedicated to journalism. If we want better journalism, we need respected journalists to run important outlets.

Phil Nelson will lead CNN Worldwide’s international business operations and its work with commercial partners outside of the U.S. Nelson previously was COO of CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) from 2019. In the new position of executive VP, CNNIC, he is now responsible for all international advertising sales, content sales and licensing and commercial distribution revenue, as well as related client solutions functions including the Create brand studio and digital and data operations.

Collins will begin regularly hosting the 9 p.m. Eastern show next month, the network said Wednesday, making the announcement during a Warner Discovery sales presentation to advertisers. The ex-White House correspondent moderated CNN’s town hall with former President Donald Trump last week, but was generally held blameless for criticism the event received.

CNN shrugged off and even scolded critics of the Donald Trump town hall it aired on May 10. But while the network is still obstinately standing by that event, viewers, it turns out, aren’t standing by the network. The town hall initially gave CNN a rare primetime win, with 3.3 million viewers tuning in, firmly making it number one in ratings among the other cable news networks. But just two days later, primetime viewership cratered, putting CNN in fourth place behind shoestring-budgeted right-wing outlet Newsmax.

President Trump got more aggressive — and more dismissive of moderator Kaitlan Collins — as last week’s CNN town hall continued. Now we know one reason why: Backstage during the first commercial break, Trump adviser Jason Miller — as if psyching up a boxer in his corner or egging on a bully — showed Trump moments-old tweets from Democrats blasting CNN and saying Trump was winning. Trump, who had been getting miffed at Collins’ persistent questioning, went out all pumped up for the second block.

A furious backlash raised questions about the future of chief executive Chris Licht and the larger challenges facing the news media going into the 2024 election.

Trump, returning to the network after years of acrimony, also refused to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war against Russian aggression and said the U.S. “might as well” default on its debt obligation, despite the potentially devastating economic consequences. The live, televised event — held in early-voting New Hampshire — underscored the challenges of fact-checking Trump in real time. The former president was cheered on and applauded by an audience of Republican and unaffiliated voters who plan to vote in the GOP primary, as moderator Kaitlan Collins sometimes struggled to correct the record as Trump steamrolled with untrue statements. “You are a nasty person,” he snapped at one point.

Wednesday’s town hall has already proved divisive — and it could be an unsettling preview for the TV news industry as it prepares to cover a presidential contest that is likely to feature Mr. Trump.

Both sides of the political divide expressed suspicion when the CNN forum at New Hampshire’s St. Anselm College was announced last week. Some Democrats question whether the former president should be given the airtime, while Republicans wonder if a network Trump has long disparaged can be fair. Once it begins, moderator Kaitlan Collins of CNN must give audience members the chance to ask questions while determining when to step in with her own. She’ll weigh how to correct misinformation in a potentially hostile environment: Invited town hall participants are those who expect to vote in a Republican primary.

When former President Trump attends a CNN town hall event in New Hampshire next week, it will be his first time sitting down with a major network other than Fox News since he dramatically stormed off the set of a 60 Minutes interview in late October 2020. Trump’s first CNN appearance in years comes as the former president and his team are hoping to rebuild his relationships with mainstream outlets after demonizing them for years. While Trump still has a complicated relationship with Fox News, one of the biggest brands in television, the agreement to do a town hall event with CNN is a significant moment that offers potential rewards to both parties.

The network announced that Trump would take questions from Republicans and undeclared voters at the May 10 event, with CNN This Morning anchor Kaitlan Collins moderating. It will take place at St. Anselm College.

CNN announced a notable change on Thursday morning: Dana Bash is the new host of Inside Politics on weekdays. Bash is a 30-year CNN veteran and is finally getting the opportunity to solo-host her own show. She succeeds John King who has been tapped to lead a new reporting project focused on voters in key battleground states as the 2024 presidential campaign cycle gets underway.

The two hosts took very different approaches, but the decisions by Fox News and CNN to shed the stars marks at least a temporary shift in the excesses of Trump-era coverage.

“CNN and Don have parted ways,” CNN Chair and CEO Chris Licht said in a memo to staff that was also posted on the network’s communications Twitter account. “Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.” CNN did not provide a public explanation for Lemon’s departure.

The morning show host said that he was informed by his agent that he had been terminated. The network said that they have “parted ways.” CNN said that CNN This Morning will continue.

TV personalities Gayle King and Charles Barkley will headline a new primetime weekly CNN show, King Charles, debuting in the fall, the network announced Saturday as it tries to engineer a turnaround amid tumbling ratings.

The former anchor of CNN’s “Reliable Sources” is gearing up for “Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy,” a look at the Fox Corp. cable outlet’s trajectory following the 2020 election and through the much-scrutinized defamation trial brought against it by Dominion Voting Systems. That court proceeding is slated to open Monday.

Under John Malone’s mandate, Warner Disco chief David Zaslav hired a morning show producer to reorient a cable news channel deemed too woke by the far right. But a year into Chris Licht’s term, the audience has gone to sleep.

CNN is zeroing in on Gayle King and Charles Barkley to host a weekly primetime show for the network, as chairman and CEO Chris Licht aims to revitalize the ratings-challenged nighttime lineup. The Wall Street Journal reported that a deal with King is being finalized, but sources say that talks are ongoing with the two personalities. The intent has been to add an extra bit of star power to its 9 p.m. ET primetime hour, which has lacked a permanent host since Chris Cuomo was fired in December, 2021. That time slot has been among the most competitive on cable news.

There are no quick fixes in a major overhaul, but signs are that new CNN chief Chris Licht is having an impact despite serious headwinds. His critics should give him the time such a Herculean task needs to be realized.