CNN

CNN’s new chief hopes primetime anchor Don Lemon can help the network gain ground in some of TV news’ toughest terrain. Chris Licht, who has vowed to tone down some of the more aggressive commentary at the network since taking its reins earlier this year, has enjoyed an eyebrow-raising streak in morning news. Now he’s betting he can do the same for CNN, even as TV networks are seeing new challenges to their sunrise efforts.

They will replace the current team of John Berman and Brianna Keilar on New Day, which airs on the news network from 6 to 9 a.m. ET. It’s the first major programming move announced by new CNN Chairman Chris Licht, who has an extensive background in morning television.

Bernard Shaw, the first chief anchor for CNN when it launched on June 1, 1980, and who helped lead breaking news coverage for more than 20 years, died Wednesday. He was 82.

Calls to boycott CNN have grown on social media in the last few days, with thousands of people on Twitter denouncing the news network’s shift away from its traditional liberal-leaning political coverage under the new Warner Bros. Discovery leadership.

The CNN CEO is bringing on John Miller, a former top official for the NYPD who famously landed an Osama bin Laden interview while at ABC. Licht also announced another high-profile hire from CBS News, telling staff that Dr. Tara Narula would be joining as a medical correspondent for the network.

CNN White House correspondent John Harwood said that Friday will be his last day at the network. Harwood wrote on Twitter, “Personal news: today’s my last day at CNN … proud of the work … thanks to my colleagues… i’ve been lucky to serve the best in American media – St. Petersburg Times, WSJ, NYT, the NBC family, CNN … look forward to figuring out what’s next.” (Photo: CNN)

Fox News, MSNBC, CNN hold top three positions on total day chart.

One week after Brian Stelter signed off the abruptly canceled Reliable Sources for the last time, CNN aired a rerun of Inside Politics during the Sunday morning time slot — and will continue to do so while it seeks a replacement.

After canceling media-affairs show Reliable Sources, which often tilted at the content of Fox News Channel, CNN plans to air a previously-announced documentary miniseries about that network’s owners. The Murdochs: Empire of Influence, a seven-part documentary series previously planned for the now-scuttled streaming site CNN+, will debut on CNN”s flagship cable outlet in the fall. The original series will debut with a two-episode premiere on Sunday, Sept. 25.

It’s not clear that even Stelter knows exactly what happened to his show, Reliable Sources. Appearing on air for his final episode Sunday, Stelter let at least a hint of bemusement cut through his typical sunny demeanor as he noted that Reliable Sources was CNN’s longest-running show — it recently celebrated 30 years on air, nine of them with Stelter as host — and that its ratings were good.

CNN gave Stelter the chance to host a final episode of the 30-year Sunday morning program on the media even after it was learned this week that he and the show would be exiting — a gesture that’s relatively rare in television.

On Friday morning, CNN CEO Chris Licht addressed the decision to cancel the Sunday show Reliable Sources, and told staff on the news channel’s 9 a.m. editorial call that there will be more changes to come. “I want to acknowledge that this is a time of significant change, and I know that many of you are unsettled,” Licht said, according to multiple people on the call. “There will be more changes and you might not understand it or like it.”

CNN has enlisted a new executive to help it generate programming ideas. Ryan Kadro, a veteran of CBS This Morning and several digital ventures, is set to join CNN as a senior vice president of content strategy, overseeing the development of new programming such as a revamped morning show and other new concepts,  according to a spokesperson for the network and two other people familiar with the matter. The move follows the cancellation of Reliable Sources and the exit of host Brian Stelter.

The show will have its last broadcast this Sunday. CNN has been looking to cut costs but also to put forth a less opinionated product.

Former President Donald Trump, whose allegations, without evidence, that the 2020 election was rigged helped fuel the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, has signaled he plans to sue CNN for its “fake news.” But given that the news came in the form of one of innumerable fundraising emails from the President and his as-of-yet non-campaign, it could be yet another effort to raise money for a possible 2024 run. “I have notified CNN of my intent to file a lawsuit.” Trump said, citing its “repeated defamatory statements against me.”

The CNN image for the past few years has been embodied by passionate on-air personalities like Don Lemon or Brianna Keilar. These days, it might best be symbolized by beat reporters like Jamie Gangel or Kaitlan Collins. Gone in recent weeks (for the most part) are what had become the network’s signature red-versus-blue showdowns between hot-talking contributors or segments that hinge on an anchor scolding an interviewee. In its place, CNN is trying something else: the news.

The network is on a pace to drop below $1 billion in profit for the first time in years, according to people familiar with its operations, amid steep declines in TV viewership.

Facing a potential Department of Justice probe over the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and more legal quicksand, Donald Trump has gone on the offensive against old foe CNN with a threatened defamation suit. “This letter serves as formal notice of the false statements about President Donald J. Trump in numerous articles and televised transmissions published by Cable News Network including, but not limited to, those discussed below,” reads a July 21 missive that the former POTUS’ DC attorneys at Ifrah Law, PLLC sent to CNN boss Chris Licht and EVP and General Counsel David Vigilante.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski are in secret talks to move to CNN. Sources tell RadarOnline.com that CNN’s new boss Chris Licht, the man who made Joe and Mika morning TV stars on MSNBC, wants to bring the couple over to his new network. Licht joined MSNBC as an executive producer in 2005. He developed a close relationship with Scarborough and the two created Morning Joe.

The Warner Bros Discovery-owned cable news channel has hired Kristine Coratti Kelly as EVP and global head of communications, reporting to CNN CEO Chris Licht. Kelly joins from The Washington Post, where she is currently chief communications officer and GM of Washington Post Live. She began her career at CNN in 2000, and will officially return to the company next month, based in New York.

Since taking over the network, Chris Licht has instituted sweeping changes, but the network’s ratings have continued to suffer.

Rebecca Kutler, a longtime CNN talent and development executive who had had a hand in the success of anchors and contributors including Abby Phillip and Van Jones, is leaving the news outlet, a move that is said to be raising eyebrows among some of the Warner Bros. Discovery outlet’s team of journalists.

CNN is holding a town-hall meeting on Thursday amid a turbulent two months at the cable news network, which is promising a new direction one month into the tenure of its new President Chris Licht. Licht and the leadership at CNN’s new corporate owner, Warner Bros. Discovery, have signaled they’d like to make a shift in the company’s direction from former chief Jeff Zucker, who left his post amid controversy.

CNN Digital interim chief Alex MacCallum and CNN Digital chief technology officer Robyn Peterson are both leaving the company, CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht announced Wednesday via internal memo. Peterson’s last day will be June 15 and MacCallum’s last day will be June 30.