PR Truths and Misconceptions Surrounding the CNN-Licht Debacle

Several PR-related questions linger about the ouster of CNN chief executive/chair Chris Licht, 5 days after a critical profile of him appeared in “The Atlantic” June 7. 

Question: How long will some communicators use Licht’s case as a cudgel, discouraging top executives from speaking with journalists? A long time.

‘The Atlantic ripped Licht apart. It cost him his job. You don’t want that to happen to you, do you?’  

Actually, Licht’s failures ended his CNN career. Had Licht produced wins, he would still have a job at CNN.

A related question: How long will some PR pros use Licht as a marketing tool? Also, a long time.

‘Sign with us and we’ll show you how to avoid having your CEO embarrassed in the media. We will help you control the narrative and avoid an unflattering profile.’ 

The offered tactics include picking a reliable reporter, having a PR pro present when a reporter interviews executives and requesting pre-published copy so you can check for inaccuracies.

Controlling the narrative is a great concept, so is controlling a PR crisis. Revenue resulting from such marketing language can pay your mortgage.

However, while PR pros should prepare executives for interviews, controlling the media is another question.  

A more balanced view of the Licht situation is that shuttering media outreach completely is an overreaction. Used correctly, earned media is a useful tool and a basic PR tactic.  

On the other hand, the Licht example is a terrific reminder that earned media is a calculated risk. Yes, part of the PR pro’s job is gatekeeping. In addition, communicator should make sure executives understand that despite careful preparation, when a company invites a journalist in it gives away some control. And things can go wrong. For example:

·         The reporter writes a favorable story, but not the one you wanted 

·         A biased reporter ignores facts, composing a hit job that damages reputations 

However, none of the above happened with Licht and CNN. Alberta wrote an accurate story.

Instead, a series of miscues, some minor others large, occurred at CNN while journalist Tim Alberta of The Atlantic was spending months trailing Licht. He didn’t create CNN’s problems; he reported them. 

Mistake 1: Timing

Admittedly, CNN communicators and/or Licht made media relations mistakes. Granting Alberta access wasn’t one of them.

Instead, the biggest error was when Alberta was granted access–within a few months of Licht starting a Herculean job and “a mission.”

CNN’s second mistake was the type and length of access it granted Alberta. Access was extensive and lasted roughly 8 months. 

As an unnamed former cable PR pro said, "Every PR person who has granted extensive access (emphasis added)…has come to regret it." 

The communicator has a point. If access is risky, extensive access is like driving 180 mph at night without headlights.

Let’s look at mistake 1.

Licht was just 5 months in when Alberta gained access.

As we know, PR incidents and crises happen on their schedule, not yours. And few could have anticipated the series of problems CNN experienced during Licht’s 13-month tenure. As Alberta wrote, “Every move [Licht] made, big programming decisions and small tactical maneuvers alike, seemed to backfire.”

In any case, granting a reporter access soon after a CEO begins isn’t wise. Often, with a new person in charge problems arise or old ones resurface. You probably don’t want a reporter observing this mayhem.

A bumpy road is almost inevitable when the new CEO’s plan includes overhauling a 4,000-person global news operation. In sum, take a breath, put your house in order, let the CEO achieve a victory or two, then invite a journalist inside for a profile. 

On ‘A Mission’ Saving CNN and Media

On the other hand, Alberta argued, apparently successfully, early access was crucial for his story.

Alberta explained his fascination with Licht and CNN during a recent podcast. CNN was “the poster child for Republican attacks on the media during the Trump years.” Licht’s charge “was to change that perception…to win back the sort of respectable, rank-and-file Republican voter who had become so distrustful of CNN.”

Licht’s plan for restoring trust in CNN included reporting stories using facts first, reducing commentary and, as Alberta wrote, “dialing back the outrage.” Eventually, Licht reasoned, other media outlets would emulate CNN. As such, Alberta believed his concurrent mission was restoring trust in media overall.

Of course, Licht’s challenge didn’t exist in a vacuum. CNN was riddled with issues ahead of his May 2, 2022, start: 

·         He was replacing popular leader Jeff Zucker 

·         Public perception of CNN was flagging following Chris Cuomo’s firing

·         Also down were ratings and profits 

And from early April 2022, CNN had a new overseer, the merged WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc. Just weeks in, Warner Bros Discovery shuttered highly touted streamer CNN+, laying off some 400 people. An April 28 staff memo from Licht announced the plan.

Again, why grant a reporter access in the wake of so much change and with plans for more? (Just 2 days before Licht and Alberta had their first interview, the CNN CEO laid off 300 staff.)

Apparently, one PR goal was gaining positive coverage for Licht’s anticipated successes. Of course, that assumed Licht would succeed. Certainly, Licht, who might have signed off on the profile (see below), believed he would. As Alberta wrote, a tremendously confident Licht “swaggered into the job,” his resume filled with victories.

In addition, Licht’s boss, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, recruited him, allegedly before Zucker was fired and without considering internal candidates.

Moreover, Zaslav, again allegedly, planned CNN’s facts-first rebrand, tapping Licht as its navigator. Throughout the profile, even when things were going wrong, Licht told Alberta that Zaslav had his back.

Mistake 2: How Much Access? 

Again, for reasons mentioned above–new CEO, major cultural overhaul, ratings issues, house not in order–delaying the profile would have been a wise move for CNN. Perhaps wait until after Licht succeeded before granting Alberta access. As we know, that didn’t happen. 

Making things worse, as noted above, Alberta gained extensive access. For months he followed Licht everywhere, including several unusual outings.

For example, Alberta attended a dress rehearsal of CNN This Morning before the show, a Licht creation, debuted. There are reasons that rehearsals of anything, including TV shows, often are off-limits. Few rehearsals go perfectly. In some sense, rehearsals are when issues should arise.

Indeed, Alberta, sitting with Licht in the control room, witnessed plenty of rough edges. These included a spat over wardrobe involving Licht and a co-host, Don Lemon. Licht fired Lemon months later. 

More important, Alberta witnessed Licht and Lemon disagree on a key part of CNN’s new route. This provided Alberta additional evidence of Licht’s bumpy road. Alberta didn’t need more. He’d already heard dissent during conversations “with nearly 100 [CNN] employees.”

On top of that, Alberta attended a CNN employee all-hands where he describes Licht seeming uncomfortable when employees questioned him about the network’s new path.

In addition, Alberta also reported criticism of Licht’s alleged aloofness. Through sources, Alberta tells of Licht attending a CNN DC bureau holiday party. After greeting employees, Licht reportedly spent time eyes-down on his mobile perusing an article about himself.

Alberta even wrote of a negative view of Licht’s plan for CNN from someone outside the company.

Media Training the Trainer

Perhaps as a way of making Licht seem more human or super-human (reportedly he’s dropped 50 pounds), Alberta attended one of Licht’s 6am exercise sessions.

That excursion went off the PR rails when Alberta interviewed Licht’s trainer Joe Maysonet. In fact, Maysonet got plenty of real estate. Most important, Maysonet vocalized his strong doubts about the viability of Licht’s facts-first plan for CNN. 

The media relations takeaways are obvious. 

A not-so-obvious lesson is that when you grant long-term access pay special attention to narrative. Portions of it may change over time. Decide how you will explain it. Alberta repeatedly mentions narrative shifts, staff’s confusion with them, and Licht’s inability to communicate changes.

As Alberta writes, “Every employee I spoke with was asking some variation of the same question: Did Licht have any idea what he was doing?”

Question: Why didn’t CNN’s top PR pros block Alberta’s access? Perhaps they tried.

CNN’s senior PR execs, Matt Dornic and Kris Coratti Kelly, lost their jobs in the wake of Licht’s firing. It’s possible, perhaps probable, they took the hit for The Atlantic profile or their closeness to Licht, but it’s not certain. Clearly someone didn’t like the profile pitch.

For example, during a podcast Alberta said gaining access wasn’t easy. “I had been pitching [Licht’s] team on doing this story. Ultimately, after pushing and pushing, pushing, there was a meeting set up [for Licht and Alberta] over dinner in New York.” 

In addition, it’s possible Licht, not PR, granted Alberta access. Since Licht was Dornic’s and Kelly’s boss, their hands were tired.

In any case, PR monitored some interviews. In the profile Alberta describes Dornic as “ever-present” during interviews.

Meanwhile, there’s another interpretation of why Dornic and Kelly are out. It’s possible David Leavy, installed June 1 as CNN’s COO, wanted to re-do the network’s communication team. It makes sense.

Leavy is a longtime PR pro. The 23-year veteran of Discovery headed its well-respected communication unit for years. CNN’s communication team is part of his portfolio now.

David & David

Moreover, Leavy achieved a goal many senior communicators seek–he is a close advisor of the CEO. At Discovery the CEO was Zaslav, who’s now CEO of the merged Warner Bros Discovery. 

Question: How should Zaslav’s media relations advisors have handled his promised interview?

It’s unclear when Zaslav promised Alberta an on-the-record interview for the Licht profile. Timing is important. What we know is that it was scheduled for the week following CNN’s May 10 Trump Town Hall.

Clearly, the atmosphere was more dicey for Zaslav, Licht and CNN after the Trump Town Hall than before it, when presumably the deal for the Zaslav interview was made.

Most people saw the execution of the Town Hall as a resounding failure. It became a media “punchline,” Alberta wrote. As such, you can understand Zaslav’s lack of enthusiasm about sitting for an on-the-record at that moment.

Like arranging access with Licht, Alberta writes that booking time with Zaslav was difficult, “hard-won,” he wrote. At the last-minute Zaslav, through a PR pro, backed out, offering an off-the-record session instead. Alberta refused and included this unflattering incident in the Licht profile.

Hell hath no fury like a spurned reporter. Zaslav absorbs hits in the profile.

For instance, Alberta notes Zaslav is a control freak who summoned Licht at 6:30am, interrupting his 6am training sessions. Some of those calls occurred when Zaslav was out west, so it was 3:30am when he phoned. “When Licht told me this, he twisted his face into a pained expression,” Alberta writes.

Obviously, the profile didn’t help Zaslav’s image or Warner Bros Discovery’s share price. 

Final Question: If you believe Licht overruled his PR team and granted Alberta access, how could a self-described news junkie be so unguarded during interviews? 

His mistakes are too numerous to list, but they include: saying CNN’s coverage of Trump and Covid during the Zucker regime largely was a ratings grab; admitting that ratings-hunting coverage helped CNN lose touch with viewers; and noting “uncertainty and anxiety” after the departure of Cuomo and Zucker had “to a certain extent” become “the new normal” at CNN.

In the profile, Alberta wonders “if [Licht] wanted to get into trouble–if he savored barreling through the boundaries of mannerly media conversation?” He adds, though Licht “was guarded with CNN employees, our many hours of conversations began to feel like therapy sessions for Licht, safe spaces in which he vented grievances and admitted fears and chased an elusive breakthrough.” 

Again, media relations takeaways are obvious. While most reporters aren’t out to get you, as professionals they’re not supposed to be your friend or therapist.  

Perhaps the most important PR lesson from the Licht profile is that media training for executives can pay huge dividends