C4 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, MARCH 1 , 2022
“He’s the right guy for this job,
undeniably,” said Jay Sures, co-
president of talent agency UTA,
who represents many o f CNN’s t op
anchors and correspondents.
“People are going to want to follow
his direction because he has real
news chops.”
Jonathan Klein, who served as
president of CNN U.S. before
Zucker, praised Licht as an inno-
vator who crafted “Morning Joe”
with “smart substance t hat proved
engrossing to audiences,” instead
of the cooking segments and soft-
focus celebrity chats that were a
hallmark of morning TV. Licht
cheered on co-host Mika B rzezins-
ki in 2007 when she fed a news
script into a shredder rather than
read the latest developments on
Paris Hilton’s legal woes to the
audience — helping t o set the tone
for the show early in its run.
“He hasn’t pandered,” Klein
said. “He’s elevated every program
he’s touched.”
Klein noted that some of the
programs he created at CNN 15
years ago are “still pretty much
what they’ve always been” and
that it’s “time for some new ap-
proaches, which Chris will bring.”
Ahead of Licht’s appointment,
CNN employees and observers
looked to Zaslav’s appointment of
a new president for hints of what
editorial direction he wants the
network to take — particularly
after Discovery shareholder John
Malone said in a November inter-
view that he “would like to see
CNN e volve b ack t o the j ournalism
it started with.”
Over the past decade, CNN’s
once-studiously neutral tone gave
way to something more opinionat-
ed and emotional, as Zucker gave
top on-air talent the leeway to
speak their minds — a develop-
ment that unnerved some news
traditionalists, said Mark Whitak-
er, a former CNN executive and
editor of Newsweek magazine.
Whitaker noted that Licht
showed a knack for reframing
brands at CBS’s morning show,TelevisionBROADCAST CHANNELS
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How I Met Your Father (Hulu)
Sophie and Jess live a day in the
life of an artist.
The Kings of Napa (OWN at 8)
August uncovers who is behind the
animosity toward the Kings as
tensions thicken between August
and Bridgette.
Superman & Lois (CW at 8) Lois
tells Clark her and Chrissy’s plan to
investigate the Inverse Society.
American Auto (NBC at 8) The
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Tyler Perry’s The Oval (BET at 9)
Unsettling truths regarding the
president are revealed.
Naomi (CW at 9) When Anthony
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PREMIERES
The Guardians of Justice (Netflix)
A team of troubled heroes must
confront evil in the world and
themselves after their leader self-
destructs.
SPECIALS
State of the Union Address
(Various networks at 9) President
Biden addresses the country in his
first State of the Union address.
MINISERIES
The Larry David Story (HBO at 9)
The comedian is joined by longtime
friend Larry Charles to discuss his
career and personal life.MOVIES
Love Is Colorblind (Netflix) An
artist becomes colorblind after an
accident and a friend harboring
romantic feelings tries to help
(along with other love interests).LATE NIGHT
Daily Show/Noah (Comedy
Central at 11)Tonight Show/Fallon (NBC at
11:34) Greg Kinnear, Daisy Edgar-
Jones, Jim James.Late Show/Colbert (CBS at 11:35)
Sen. Bernie Sanders, Big Thief.Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC at 11:35)
Sandra Oh, Russell Wilson, Ciara,
Mitski, Doreen Ketchens.Late Late Show/Corden (CBS at
12:37) Pamela Adlon, Taika Waititi,
Pinegrove.Late Night/Meyers (NBC at 12:37)
Amanda Seyfried, Harvey Fierstein,
Fr ank Bruni, Carter McLean.
— Anying GuoMore at washingtonpost.com/
entertainment/tvTV HIGHLIGHTS
BRITBOX
Murder in Provence (BritBox) The show follows Antoine Verlaque, played
by Roger Allam, above, and company as they investigate the murders,
mysteries and dark underbelly of their idyllic home.
ACROSS
1 Gaming
site whose
machines
originally took
pennies
7 Invite (to)
10 Serve, as coffee
14 Jumped
15 Wide-angle
view
17 Mom or dad
18 Sequence of
missed calls
19 Pitcher’s
control, say
20 Wood-splitting
tool
21 Place for Oreos
25 Extra
30 New England
cape
31 Fountain
offerings
33 When tied NFL
games may be
decided
34 Spanish folk
hero
36 Does some
self-grooming,
as a bird
38 Let it slide
42 Counsel
43 Things one
can’t do
without
44 Bearing
45 Salt or fresh
follower
47 Mayo, por
ejemplo
50 North Atlantic
hazards
52 Wallet or purse
alternative
55 “What was
__ do?”
57 Lord’s home
58 Fashionable
group ... and
what the
starts of 18-,
21-, 38- and
52-Across form
63 Barely manage,
with “by”
64 Lone Ranger,
to Tonto
65 Kitchen
appliances
66 Inside scoop
67 Force (through),
as legislation
68 Evaluate
DOWN
1 Andes grazer
2 Motive
3 Novelist
McCullers
4 Sneak __: look
secretly
5 Teeth: Pref.
6 Georgia
summer hrs.
7 Uber or Lyft
8 African desert
9 Kentucky fort
10 Eminent leader?
11 Cereal grain
12 Thurman of
“Pulp Fiction”
13 Torn old shirt,
perhaps
16 Small bills
22 Avoid
23 __ de vivre
24 Expand,
as a house
26 Places to
fish from
27 From the
beginning
28 Gossip
columnist
Barrett
29 Website
featuring crafts32 Ball shape
34 Barely
managing,
with “by”
35 Sgt.’s superiors
37 Color suggest-
ing anger
38 Mary’s was
little
39 Drooling
comics dog
40 Done41 High schooler,
usually
46 Microscopic
organism
47 Household,
from the French
48 Marries in
secret
49 Emphasize
51 Remains on the
shelf
53 Some youth ctrs.54 Structures
raised by
Amish
56 Peter the
Great, e.g.
58 Enjoy Aspen
59 Chess pieces
60 Big initials in
bowling
61 Friend of Pooh
62 President pro __
63 Mexican Mrs.LA TIMES CROSSWORD By Jerry Edelstein
MONDAY’S LA TIMES SOLUTION© 202 2 Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 3/1/2 2
where h e signaled a renewed dedi-
cation to serious news.
“He ended up creating an inter-
esting show, but it was very much
in the s pirit of what CBS stood for.”
In a memo to CNN employees
on Monday morning, Zaslav de-
scribed himself as a “news junkie
at the core” and praised the net-
work’s coverage of the Russian
invasion of Ukraine, saying they
have fulfilled the original mission
of its founder, Ted Turner, by
building “the foremost news-
gathering organization in the
world.”
In his memo to CNN staff, L icht
said he knows many are wonder-
ing how CNN will change. “The
honest answer is that I don’t know
yet,” he wrote. Zaslav, he said,
wants him “to ensure that CNN
remains the global leader in
NEWS” and that they will “double-
down on what’s working well and
quickly eliminate what’s not.”
Since Zucker’s abrupt depar-
ture, CNN has been run by a trio o f
longtime executives, Michael
Bass, Amy Entelis and Ken Jautz.
Each executive was considered a
potential candidate for the role of
president, though Zaslav ulti-
mately decided to go with an out-
side pick.
CNN, which was briefly the
most-watched network in cable
news in January 2021, during a
tumultuous presidential transi-
tion, has fallen back to third place
when considering total average
viewers. It still outperforms
MSNBC in total day viewers
among the 25-to-54 age demo-
graphic valued by advertisers.
But colleagues say when Licht
expressed concern about taking a
job that would throw him into a
cutthroat ratings battle, Zaslav re-
assured him that he is more inter-
ested in bolstering CNN’s reputa-
tion — something that could be
key as CNN launches a streaming
service that will rely more on
viewer subscriptions than adver-
tising revenue.
CNN Plus, as the streaming
service has been dubbed, is ex-
pected to launch by the end of
March with shows built around
several high-profile new hires.
One of Licht’s first big c halleng-
es will be filling t he 9 p.m. s lot t hat
was v acated by f ormer star anchor
Chris C uomo, who was fired b y the
network in D ecember for c rossing
ethical lines to help his brother,
then-New York Gov. Andrew M.
Cuomo, battle sexual misconduct
allegations.
While Cuomo often took an
emotional and opinionated edge,
Licht h as told p eople he appreciat-
ed that the show was infused with
passion and unpredictability —
and did not seem to cleave to one
particular political perspective.BY JEREMY BARR
AND SARAH ELLISONChris Licht, a CBS executive
who has been tapped to lead CNN,
hopes to steer the network back to
its hard-news roots and away f rom
the opinionated tone that flour-
ished in cable news during the
Trump era, according to people
who have talked to the veteran
producer.
At a time when the nation’s c hief
executive declared media to be an
“enemy of the state,” many CNN
hosts and reporters felt empow-
ered to speak their minds. But
Licht did n ot think the heated rhet-
oric that ensued always served the
audience, these people said, speak-
ing on the condition of anonymity
to discuss private conversations.
“There’s a difference between
standing up for yourself,” Licht
told a friend recently, “and b ecom-
ing part of the resistance.”
Licht, 50, was announced Mon-
day as CNN Global’s new chair-
man and chief executive, a role he
is expected to take up i n early May,
after a deal is completed for the
television conglomerate Discov-
ery Inc. to take control of CNN’s
parent, WarnerMedia.
He w ill replace Jeff Z ucker, w ho
abruptly resigned from CNN on
Feb. 2 after failing to disclose a
romantic relationship with a long-
time colleague, Allison Gollust.
She later resigned, under pres-
sure, as well.
Before joining CBS, Licht dis-
tinguished himself at MSNBC,
where he was the co-creator and
original executive producer of
“Morning Joe,” the network’s flag-
ship morning show. He also
helped launch CBS’s morning
show, now called “CBS Mornings,”
and m ore recently is credited w ith
turning around the ratings per-
formance of “The Late Show with
Stephen Colbert.”
Licht has been friendly for 15
years with his new boss, David
Zaslav, who will serve as chief ex-
ecutive of the combined Warner
Bros. Discovery; the two briefly
overlapped at NBCUniversal be-
fore Zaslav became CEO o f Discov-
ery in 2007. Licht frequently
turned to Zaslav for career advice,
friends say — and Zaslav, in turn,
sought out Licht’s counsel as he
looked ahead to the challenges of
overseeing a major news network
after a career in entertainment.
In a statement, Zaslav called
Licht “a true news person” who he
said “makes every organization
stronger, more innovative and
more cohesive.”
Licht’s a ppointment was w idely
praised by CNN journalists when
plans for the pick were leaked on
Saturday and first reported by
Puck.CBS’s Chris Licht tapped to lead CNNMIKE COPPOLA/GETTY IMAGES
Chris Licht aims to bring CNN
back to its hard-news roots as
chief executive of CNN Global.Did you hear The Post today?
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