# Chris Licht **Chris Licht** (born 1971) is the television producer who ran [[CNN]] for 13 months under [[Warner Bros. Discovery]]. He was installed in 2022 with a mandate from [[David Zaslav]] to move the network toward the political center. His tenure is the cautionary tale of that project: a live town hall that let [[Donald Trump]] dominate, and a magazine profile that ended his job. ## Career | Year | Role | |---|---| | 2005 | Producer, *Scarborough Country* (MSNBC) | | 2007 | Founding executive producer, *Morning Joe* | | 2011–12 | Joins CBS; executive producer of *CBS This Morning* at its 2012 launch | | 2016 | Showrunner, *The Late Show with [[Stephen Colbert]]* | | May 2, 2022 | Chairman and CEO, CNN | | June 7, 2023 | Ousted | ## The year at CNN - **The mandate.** Zaslav and WBD's leadership wanted a CNN less identified with opposition to Trump. - **The town hall.** On **May 10, 2023**, CNN aired a live town hall with Trump at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, moderated by Kaitlan Collins, before a friendly Republican audience. Trump repeated his election lies, mocked E. Jean Carroll the day after a jury found him liable for sexually abusing her, and drew applause. The network's own staff turned on the decision. - **The profile.** Tim Alberta's roughly 15,000-word *[[The Atlantic]]* profile, published the first weekend of June 2023, portrayed Licht as isolated and dismissive of his own journalists. He was out within days. Since leaving CNN he has kept a low profile: some consulting, a Syracuse University class on the future of media, and a few speaking dates in late 2024. No new executive role was found through 2026. The CNN he tried to remake now belongs to the Ellisons' Skydance, which took over WBD on October 6, 2026 under a state settlement requiring an independent board for CNN's editorial independence. See [[Skydance Media]]. ## See Also - [[CNN]] · [[CNN and Warner Bros. Discovery Timeline]] · [[David Zaslav]] · [[Warner Bros. Discovery]] - [[The Atlantic]] · [[Donald Trump]]