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Reacting to Licht's Firing

Some FTVLive readers weighed in on Chris Licht being let go from CNN.

Email:

“I'm actually really sad to see Chris Licht make such a spectacular downfall.  He has a history of being a really skilled producer.  Morning Joe was a great program when he was at the helm - it still has held on to a lot of that and remains pretty solid.  Then there's CBS This Morning which was an excellent show when he was there.  I watched many days out of the week.  And while the loss of Charlie Rose is a large reason for its downfall, the program is nothing compared to what it once was and I never watch.  Colbert was also great, although that program was lucky to have Trump in office to give it lots of material.  Chris Licht did some great things.  I do believe he was on his way to making CNN an actual NEWS network rather than a political analysis network - at least during the daytime hours.  Sadly, it looks like his ego may have gotten the best of him with the piece in The Atlantic.  He had a huge mountain to climb and a staff that was still loyal to the previous regime.  But as we have all agreed - at least he got rid of Don Lemon.”

Email:

Scott,

It's quite clear Zas was a control freak and never let Chris do his job because anyone who's ever worked in production knows it wouldn't take a year to change things unless upper management is overbearing. If you look at every interview chris did and Zas's pr stunts it was clear chris mentioned a few times Zas watches the most as semi joke but also hinting frustration that he's overbearing. The CNBC Zas interview was Zas doing what he wanted. The COO position is someone who will say yes. At discovery it's documented this is how he runs things and why he keeps only a few people. 

Chris's mistake was letting the media guys stelter and Puck dude go with axes to grind. Then you throw in Tapper being pissed that he didn't get 9PM and Choates being pissed she was denied 11PM and then I'm more than certain agents were pumping stories. 

To say that CNN is in worse of a position now than the zucker era is is just insane. In one year CNN got new sets, graphics and some talent who have long time should get more time finally are being used. None of these changes were made since 2014. Zucker was so lazy all he did was partisanship over talent/sets/branding etc. The editorial is actually normal now and not harping 24/7 on twitter trends to drive viewers. The new ad campaign featuring raw cnn moments is beautiful work. The fact that a tv dude got fired due to pissed talent, agents, a control freak ceo, and 2 media idiots who have axes to grind is insane. It's insane because everyone let the narrative go on vs saying this is insane. It's all right there in front of everyone. Chris is better off who would want to work for that?

Text:

Chris Licht was set up to fail from the beginning. Also, Jeff Zucker needs to move the fuck along.

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