CNN CEO Chris Licht has emailed the network’s staff with a warning about the changes he will be making in the near future as the threat of layoffs looms.
On Wednesday afternoon, Licht warned employees that the coming “changes will not be easy.”
“I have spent the last six months meeting so many of you and diving deep into every corner of the company to understand how you do the incredible work CNN produces every day, how we’re structured, and defining our top priorities,” Licht wrote.
“As many of you know, I have also spent much of that time doing formal business reviews with senior staff to identify areas where we should make changes, investments, and reductions to match our future priorities.
“We have already begun working toward CNN’s future, implementing a strategy that puts our journalism first and grows our digital stronghold.
“We restructured our digital team and are investing significantly in the product.
“We combined our newsgathering operations across linear and digital to ensure we can bring our full reporting firepower to any platform we are on.
“We are beginning to reimagine our morning and primetime lineups, officially launching our new morning show next week.
“We’ve started building our Sunday night long-form program.
“We have also begun to reduce or eliminate areas that aren’t core to our mission.
“All these moves are designed to keep CNN essential across platforms to ensure that wherever and however people get their news, they must have CNN.
“There is a lot more to be done.
“I am writing to you today to say that over the next several weeks, that work will accelerate.
“There is widespread concern over the global economic outlook, and we must factor that risk into our long-term planning.
“All this together will mean noticeable change to this organization.
“That, by definition, is unsettling,” he wrote.
“These changes will not be easy because they will affect people, budgets, and projects.”
Chris Licht just sent this note to CNN staff: “There is widespread concern over the global economic outlook, and we must factor that risk into our long-term planning. All this together will mean noticeable change to this organization. … These changes will not be easy…” pic.twitter.com/4eKUuitYFv
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) October 26, 2022
I spoke with new CNN CEO Chris Licht about his challenges/runaway narratives about what he’s trying to do at CNN.
He just concluded a review of the business. It’s part of a broader WBD effort that will result in +1,000 job cuts before the end of year. https://t.co/8uyEo7cgim
— Alex Sherman (@sherman4949) October 26, 2022
