Jeff Zucker was breezing by the use of the Faena Resort in Miami Seaside when he seen David Zaslav all through the room. The earlier CNN chief was there on journey on March 31, whereas the current Warner Bros. Discovery CEO was accessible for the Saudi-backed FII Institute’s Worldwide Priority Summit. As firm leaders mingled with Saudi princesses, Zucker approached Zaslav with tears in his eyes. Zucker complained that Chris Licht, his CNN successor, was unfairly maligning him inside the press, in line with sources conscious of the dialog. Zucker insisted he would in no way deploy such a low-blow tactic. It was an odd declare provided that, to that point, Licht had solely completed a single revealed profile with The New York Events’ James B. Stewart, whereby Zucker was in no way talked about.
Zaslav stopped him. In its place, he wished to know if Zucker was indulging in a novel “fantasy,” as Zaslav put it — to assemble a gaggle of merchants to aim to buy the neighborhood. Zucker vehemently denied that he had any wish to take motion. Nevertheless sources inform Choice that the choice is true, and that Zucker has spent the earlier yr touring the globe to meet with potential companions in a bid for CNN.
Zucker and Zaslav’s power struggles over the cable data neighborhood — a few of the prestigious property inside the WBD portfolio and as well as one in every of many biggest perennial issues for the mom or father agency — clarify the chaotic and roiling environment Zucker left behind after his 2022 ouster. The earlier neighborhood chief, who was compelled out after failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a CNN subordinate and for committing ethical breaches inside the newsgathering course of, most likely will fail in any bid to take once more the neighborhood. Nevertheless his battles with Zaslav and his behind-the-scenes makes an try and undermine Licht (whom Zaslav fired last month) are further than merely power performs from one in every of many media world’s most consequential egos. They counsel that Zucker sees a niche — nonetheless slender — and isn’t fearful about damaging CNN as he makes an try and ram his methodology by the use of it. At stake is the best way ahead for CNN, arguably most likely essentially the most iconic and influential data mannequin on the earth and one that will make or break a presidential candidate as a divided America heads into the 2024 election cycle.
Whereas Zaslav in no way took Zucker’s CNN overtures critically, the exiled chief apparently was extreme. Sources say Zucker and his proxies have pitched just a few of the richest people on the earth on a potential CNN play. Many of the particulars of his pursuit of CNN emerged in a confidential Warner Bros. Discovery investigation proper into a chief CNN authorities — a Zucker loyalist who mysteriously exited the neighborhood in January.
“Any allegation or insinuation that Jeff has made any effort to purchase CNN is unequivocally false,” says a spokeswoman for Zucker who denied that Zaslav and Zucker talked about Licht on the Faena Resort. “He has in no way had any meeting or dialog about looking for CNN with anyone.”
A Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson says, “Warner Bros. Discovery is devoted to CNN. It’s not available on the market.” Licht declined repeated requests for comment for this story.
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After virtually a decade working the neighborhood, Zucker in no way might let go, say these in his orbit. The earlier president and CEO of NBCUniversal took his place at CNN in 2013 — famously departing Katie Couric’s converse current after solely a yr. Whereas Zucker was neighborhood president, CNN flooded the zone with tales from the disappearance of Malaysia Airways Flight 370 to Carnival Cruise Line’s “poop cruise” to, lastly, the rise of Donald Trump. CNN surged in viewership and profitability beneath the forty fifth president, and Zucker appeared like its mastermind. Nevertheless these Resistance rankings lastly dried up, and CNN lagged. Though Zucker was compelled to resign successfully sooner than Zaslav took the reins following Discovery’s $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T, he blamed Zaslav and John Malone, a right-leaning billionaire who owns a 1% stake in WBD and is a robust board member. Licht, a occupation producer who’d in no way led an organization of CNN’s measurement, was handed the not potential strategy of managing a politically neutral post-Zucker neighborhood.
Following a mild drumbeat of harmful press about Licht that culminated with a devastating profile in The Atlantic, the CNN chief was ousted by Zaslav on June 7. Sources inside every WBD and CNN contemplate Zucker had been agitating behind the scenes to depose Licht. Those who have labored intently with Zucker before now and are conscious of his media-savvy playbook declare that he orchestrated unflattering leaks about his successor to reporters.
“This has been an infinite dick swing between David Zaslav and Jeff Zucker, and Chris acquired carried out correct in the middle of it,” says one insider who has been conscious of principal present decisions at CNN. “When all is alleged and completed, we’re going to look out out this whole issue was a large sport, and the worth of CNN goes to get pushed down.”
Zucker, whose CNN found its defining tone on the tumultuous 2016 advertising and marketing marketing campaign path, thrives in chaos. And his tried power seize comes at a time of profound instability for the commerce, with Fox Data and MSNBC every going by way of questions on the best way ahead for his or her primetime lineups. Nevertheless not even Fox’s $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Strategies can study to the drama that’s enveloped CNN all through and after the one-year reign of Licht, who some insiders have described as a Julius Caesar decide surrounded by backstabbers.
That native climate of betrayal crystallized on Jan. 30, when Rani Raad, Zucker’s former prime lieutenant, abruptly left his perch as president of CNN Industrial Worldwide. Earlier to Raad’s departure, questions swirled spherical his ongoing relationship with Zucker. In late 2022, WBD launched an internal investigation into Raad, who was suspected of collaborating with the now-outsider Zucker, say sources conscious of the probe. (Both aspect are sure by a nondisclosure settlement.) Ultimate month, Raad formally joined Zucker at private-equity company RedBird IMI.
A Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson declined to debate a confidential matter. Raad declined comment in regards to the investigation.
For these conscious of the Zucker-Raad entanglement, the data of his exit acquired right here as no shock. One provide calls Raad’s conduct “a mutiny” — and a worthwhile one. One different provide says Raad used his place as a chief authorities to assist Zucker discover capital for a CNN pursuit and foment chaos contained in the neighborhood. That the asset was devalued inside the course of was but yet one more break in Zucker’s favor.
Zucker’s quest to recapture the CNN throne began a few months after he was fired for set off in February 2022 by then-parent agency WarnerMedia after a third-party investigation found that he engaged in an affair with Allison Gollust, a PR authorities. The investigation moreover found that Zucker and Gollust violated the company’s data necessities and practices by way of their cozy relationship with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. (Gollust moreover was fired for set off.) The Zucker scandal left a stain on the neighborhood that billed itself as “The Most Trusted Determine in Data,” merely as Zaslav was about to inherit CNN as part of Discovery’s $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T. Zaslav, prolonged enamored with Licht, named the earlier showrunner of “The Late Current With Stephen Colbert” to the job three weeks later with out considering completely different candidates, a head-scratching switch to some given the breadth of the duty.
Licht was requested to indicate throughout the tarnished neighborhood and return it to its nonpartisan roots. It was a Herculean course of, made tougher by Zucker’s machinations. As early as August 2022, chatter about Zucker was shifting by the use of enterprise channels. On Aug. 7, Allied Turkish Monetary establishment IBU Northern Cyprus despatched a letter of intent on agency stationery to the regulation company Clifford Chance’s Istanbul office. The letter discusses Clifford Chance as a result of the company that represents Zucker in “the acquisition of CNN Worldwide” and “is respectable for the spherical of negotiations with potential merchants and is regulated by the attached confidential contract in accordance with the enterprise legal guidelines of Turkey,” in line with sources who’ve seen the documentation.
Delcan & Co for Choice
“Jeff has in no way talked to any Turkish monetary establishment,” says a spokeswoman for Zucker. “He has no relationship with Clifford Chance.”
At yr’s end, Zucker was sitting on a $1 billion battle chest when Gerry Cardinale’s private-equity company RedBird Capital Companions and Abu Dhabi-based Worldwide Media Investments tapped him to steer three method partnership RedBird IMI. (Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, a United Arab Emirates authorities minister, had put up 75% of the funds.) An announcement of Zucker’s place stated that the supervisor would objective “large-scale” media and sports activities actions funding options, with no specifics on what these might be.
Nonetheless, it’ll require way more than $1 billion to land a media asset akin to CNN. Thus, the courting of billionaires ensued, sources conscious of the Raad probe say. On Nov. 20, Zucker and Cardinale met at a Formulation One race in Abu Dhabi, with Raad and Gollust accessible. Raad, nonetheless a CNN employee beneath Licht, was there to schmooze on behalf of the neighborhood, nevertheless was seen in RedBird’s VIP house, meeting with Zucker and members of the oil-rich nation’s sovereign wealth fund. (Malone’s Liberty Media owns Formulation One.)
Throughout the equivalent time, Zucker approached Jeff Bezos, Laurene Powell Jobs and Alex Soros about investing in his CNN bid, in line with these self identical sources. “He has in no way talked about looking for CNN with Jeff Bezos, Laurene Powell Jobs or Alex Soros. Jeff has in no way met or spoken to Alex Soros,” Zucker’s spokeswoman says. That denial not lower than partially contradicts revealed tales that Zucker had beforehand approached Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs, just a few potential spinout of the neighborhood in late 2020. This time, Powell Jobs took the overtures critically adequate that she contacted CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria to inquire about Zucker, although she had begun offloading just a few of her media investments currently. (She did keep on to a majority stake in The Atlantic, the equivalent publication that sealed Licht’s future.) Powell Jobs declined comment. Zakaria didn’t reply to a request for comment.
Within the meantime, Raad was concurrently working beneath Licht and on behalf of Zucker. Sources say he met with Nasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of Qatari state-owned beIN Media Group, and sat down twice with Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer bin Mohammed Al Thani, chairman of the board of Al Jazeera, whereas nonetheless gathering a paycheck from CNN. (A rep for Raad says he “has in no way met Al Jazeera administration, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and he has in no way talked about or engineered an methodology amongst any social gathering to build up CNN.”)
After Raad decamped CNN, the tempo of pitching accelerated. Sources say Zucker most simply currently targeted Mario Ferreira, who licenses the data neighborhood’s content material materials as a result of the proprietor of CNN Portugal, about collaborating in a CNN acquisition. (A Zucker spokeswoman says he has in no way met with or spoken to Ferreira.) Individually, sources say Cardinale met with Paul Singer of Elliott Capital Administration, though a provide close to the RedBird principal says the conversations have been about soccer group A.C. Milan and had nothing to do with CNN. Singer, a Republican mega-donor whose Hollywood investments have included CNN’s former mom or father agency AT&T, isn’t any stranger to controversy. He’s presently enmeshed in a conflict-of-interest scandal following revelations that Supreme Court docket docket Justice Samuel Alito took an unreported luxurious fishing journey with Singer and didn’t recuse himself from cases that involved the billionaire.
David Zaslav
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This spring, Turkish Monetary establishment Group signed a nondisclosure settlement with worldwide mergers and acquisitions company Pandion Companions just a few potential deal for RedBird to build up CNN, say sources conscious of the settlement. “RedBird and RedBird IMI do not know TBG or Pandion Companions, haven’t signed any NDA with or spherical these occasions and have in no way expressed or talked about an curiosity in looking for CNN with anyone at any time,” says a guide for RedBird and RedBird IMI. An alternate precept has emerged in banking circles: {{that a}} secret worldwide group of merchants is using Zucker and RedBird’s names with out their data to methodology Warner Bros. Discovery about looking for CNN.
Nevertheless sources conscious of the Raad investigation say Zucker in present months approached Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who owned Chelsea Soccer Membership until 2022 nevertheless was compelled to unload it after being sanctioned by the West for his shut ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin amid the continued battle in Ukraine. (“He has in no way met or spoken to Roman Abramovich,” the Zucker spokeswoman says.)
The group of worldwide merchants allegedly tied to a Zucker CNN gambit would most likely spark intense scrutiny from the federal authorities. Nevena Simidjiyska, a affiliate at Fox Rothschild who focuses on regulatory regulation, says the Treasury Division’s Committee on Worldwide Funding within the US, which determines the affect of any such transactions on U.S. nationwide security, might cease an funding of this kind.
“‘Nationwide security’ simply isn’t outlined beneath CFIUS, nevertheless the whole goal of this [committee] is to be sure that there aren’t any nationwide security implications,” Simidjiyska explains. “Undoubtedly, in case you’ve gotten a worldwide social gathering that’s taking a stake in a very large data group that’s thought of by a great deal of viewers and has the facility to impact viewpoint, I really feel inside the current geopolitical native climate, the U.S. will certainly step in.”
Even when a CNN bid backed by worldwide merchants managed to go regulatory hurdles, it’ll acquire public backlash. Ponder the proposed LIV-PGA merger, which could see the Saudis controlling a severe U.S. sport. The PGA pales as in contrast with CNN by the use of cultural have an effect on, however data of the deal generated outcry from avid gamers and followers alike. Wall Avenue analyst Hal Vogel says Zaslav wouldn’t most likely wade into such controversial waters, whatever the financial headwinds WBD faces.
“CNN isn’t available on the market, nevertheless it’s available on the market on the right worth,” he says. “Zaslav nonetheless has a $40-plus-billion-dollar debt stage that locations pressure on him to get rid of stuff. And so, CNN may be inside the mix. Nevertheless Emirates money may presumably be the place you draw the street. Any worldwide entity in search of to spend cash on CNN isn’t looking for it for profitability. They’re looking for it for have an effect on.”
Contained within the halls of CNN, the specter of Zucker hovered prolonged after his ouster. Zucker buddies like Don Lemon have been suspicious of the Zaslav regime and the model new overlord’s wish to push CNN to the political center. And that stress made Licht unpopular internally and inside the broader commerce. He was branded aloof by the press, whereas brokers — considerably UTA’s Jay Sures, who represents just a few of CNN’s biggest stars, along with Lemon — bristled on account of he didn’t play ball with them on experience gives.
Jeff Zucker
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As for Zaslav, he sought to quickly exorcise the ghost of Zucker, with one insider calling his switch to shut down CNN+, which had been Zucker’s brainchild, as “the biggest fuck-you to Jeff immediately on account of he might have completed a great deal of points with CNN+ wanting shutting it down.”
The regime changes and firings which have characterised CNN’s last few years moreover normally led to emphasize. On the day Licht dismissed Lemon, following a set of on-air gaffes and a Choice exposé on the anchor’s historic previous of misogyny, prime authorities Amy Entelis was scrambling to get the anchor on the phone to do hurt administration as Lemon began tweeting about his exit, say sources conscious of the chain of events. Sures, who reps Lemon, knowledgeable Entelis to call the anchor’s new publicist — Gollust. Entelis had solely simply currently sat inside the room as Gollust was fired. This wasn’t the first time Lemon had prompted awkwardness amongst CNN’s brass: One educated provide says Licht was able to hearth Lemon the weekend after he declared that 50-year-old presidential candidate Nikki Haley was not “in her prime,” nevertheless reconsidered on the eleventh hour, a vacillation that left some staff offended and irritated.
Whereas Zucker and Raad have been in fundraising mode, Licht was taking a beating inside the press. Some former Zucker colleagues seen his hidden hand with regard to the latter. Tellingly, most likely essentially the most relentless critiques of Licht’s abbreviated reign originated with a single reporter at startup data outlet Puck. The reporter in question, Dylan Byers, is a former Zucker disciple at CNN who, by his private admission, wrote about Licht incessantly and even took a victory lap after his exit. “By now, Zaslav & Co. have realized — after better than 50 Puck articles and one devastating 15,000-word Atlantic profile — that Licht lacked the experience, acuity, and administration talents,” he wrote.
Together with blasting Licht, Byers’ columns raised eyebrows in media circles for his or her hyperbolic lionization of Zucker, calling his former boss a “generationally-talented leisure programmer,” a “producing genius” and a “brash and beloved media authorities,” nevertheless in no way mentioning that CNN was already in rankings freefall sooner than Licht stepped inside the door, or that Zucker was the one who greenlit the epic fail of CNN+, which worth better than $300 million to launch.
Quite a few former Zucker colleagues phrase the disconnect between Byers faulting Licht for a broadly ridiculed Donald Trump metropolis hall on Might 10 nevertheless failing to say Zucker’s decadeslong entanglement with the earlier president. (When Zucker was in control of NBC, he greenlit “The Apprentice,” serving to
to rework Trump inside the eyes of TV watchers from a struggling precise property developer to the embodiment of moguldom. Zucker moreover was broadly criticized for CNN platforming Trump all by way of the 2016 election cycle on the expense of various Republican candidates, along with Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.) “Zucker aided and abetted the rise of Donald Trump, plain and simple, no question about it. And it labored to his profit,” says Lisa Napoli, author of “Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Supply of 24-Hour Data.”
Nevertheless Byers’ battle of curiosity runs quite a bit deeper than a kinship with a former boss. As he was drubbing Licht and writing what insiders describe as Zucker fan fiction, Puck was concurrently courting a model new investor — none apart from Zucker himself. (Buried in a New York Events story about Zucker is the startling ingredient that RedBird IMI has held discussions to spend cash on Puck.) Puck has a singular possession building, whereby its prime journalists have a stake inside the agency. In an added wrinkle, Zucker and Puck are every represented by publicist Risa Heller, who runs a boutique catastrophe communications company whose purchasers have included Jared Kushner and disgraced former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. Byers has in no way disclosed in his columns the Zucker-Puck funding talks, nor that his publication has the equivalent PR strategist.
School of Oregon journalism professor Tim Gleason calls the setup “incestuous.” “The underside line in these cases is transparency. Reporters and publications have to be clear about their pursuits and the conflicts that can have some bearing on what they’re reporting,” Gleason says. “In case you’re writing tales about someone and also you’ve acquired a earlier historic previous with that specific individual or you will have a financial curiosity in what that specific individual is doing, these are conflicts that have to be disclosed on the very least, if not taking you off the beat altogether.”
Chris Licht
Getty Photographs for TIME
Nevertheless Byers remained singularly obsessed, writing about Licht and CNN in 64 of the 127 tales he filed all through Licht’s tenure.
“Dylan is the simplest media reporter there’s, and I’m thrilled and honored to call him my affiliate,” says Puck co-founder Jon Kelly.
By any objective measure, the Licht interval was rocky, if not disastrous — from the much-derided Trump metropolis hall to nosediving rankings. (At events, Newsmax eclipsed CNN in entire primetime viewership.) However he dodged every bullet until the Atlantic piece, a startling takedown of his administration mannequin whereby Licht’s every quote was launched to its worst profit. The chattering programs devoured the story, nevertheless some inside CNN seen it as a coordinated strike to impose most hurt on the reeling data chief. Its origins keep murky, nevertheless sources protect it was in no way pitched as a profile. In August 2022, merely as Zucker launched into his quest to carry adequate money to buy CNN, Atlantic writer Tim Alberta met with former neighborhood communications authorities Matt Dornic to secure Licht’s participation for a piece he deliberate to place in writing, with or with out the supervisor. It was launched as a broad story about restoring perception inside the media, citing a Pew analysis that confirmed American faith in journalists was at an all-time low. Licht, the pitch went, would perform a case analysis.
Loads of the preliminary response to the piece centered on how quite a bit entry Licht granted and the best way unfiltered he was. Nevertheless these conscious of the Atlantic backstory say Alberta had merely 4 conferences with Licht, in regards to the equivalent amount of facetime as Stewart acquired for his Events profile, which carried out the story straight. These self identical sources say liberties have been taken with the Atlantic piece, along with that key off-the-record particulars and quotes have been used on the report. On-the-record interviews which were neutral or painted Licht positively weren’t used. Licht’s coach, Joe Maysonet, who was present for just a few of the Atlantic conversations, tells Choice that Licht’s suggestions have been taken out of context a variety of events.
“It makes me incensed,” Maysonet says of the finished product.
Two sources say the piece’s now-infamous quote from the well being membership whereby Licht said, “Zucker couldn’t try this shit,” was one factor that Alberta said and that Licht merely repeated.
“Tim Alberta is a fastidious, ethical reporter, and in quoting Licht and others, he adhered to the underside pointers established for each particular dialog. Licht’s phrases inside the well being membership have been his private, not Tim’s,” says an Atlantic spokesperson. “The Atlantic stands by Tim’s story and his reporting.”
On the very least 4 people have been fired as a direct outcomes of the story, along with Licht, Dornic, CNN’s lead spokesperson Kris Coratti Kelly and Licht’s chief of staff Devan Cayea.
Together with to the layers of tangled loyalties, CNN COO David Leavy known as former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter days sooner than Licht was fired to gauge his opinion on whether or not or not Warner Bros. Discovery must decrease Licht free, although Licht was the very one who axed Stelter. The earlier “Reliable Sources” anchor said certain. Stelter declined comment.
With Zuckerites cheering Licht’s demise, some on-air experience have sounded the alarm. MSNBC “Morning Joe” anchor Joe Scarborough blasted Zaslav whereas taking a swipe on the revisionist historic previous about Zucker’s tenure.
“This idea that [CNN] was a rankings juggernaut when it merely wasn’t sooner than Chris walked by the use of the door, that’s merely … that’s merely harmful reporting,” Scarborough said on air. On a later episode of “Morning Joe,” he well-known: “If I’ve been a CEO, I’d die sooner than I let {{a magazine}} article determine who I was going to lease and fireside.” Scarborough isn’t impartial proper right here each. Licht helped create “Morning Joe,” which made the MSNBC host a star.
As CNN CEO, Licht was in over his head. Not like Zucker, who ran NBCUniversal sooner than he joined the neighborhood in 2013, Licht had in no way run one thing close to a sprawling worldwide operation like CNN, with its workforce of virtually 4,000. Some say he deserved further time, noting that Zucker’s first yr moreover was filled with hiccups. Others say Zaslav’s mandate to ship CNN once more to the center may have been an not potential course of.
“It’s extraordinarily troublesome inside the current media environment to be a down-the-middle neighborhood,” says Katie Couric, a CNN alum in the middle of the neighborhood’s early days who moreover labored with Zucker at “Within the current day” and on her titular syndicated converse current. “As a result of the slices of the pie get smaller and smaller, it’s further important than ever to have an engaged viewers that might be further interested in affirmation than data. I really feel that’s why there’s quite a bit commentary on cable. It may take a actually wise programmer to find out how CNN might as quickly as as soon as extra change right into a metropolis sq. with utterly completely different views on important, superior factors. And even then, I’m not glad people would even want to observe that on this hyper-partisan world. It’s an infinite conundrum.” (Couric reportedly had a falling out with Zucker when he left her converse current after only one yr to run CNN.)
In an announcement following Licht’s departure, Zaslav said, “I’ve good respect for Chris, personally and professionally. The job of principal CNN was in no way going to be easy, notably at a time of large disruption and transformation.”
Inside the fast time interval, Licht will proceed to take heat for the Trump metropolis hall. Nevertheless one in every of his present strikes will most likely outlast these criticisms: landing Gayle King and Charles Barkley for a weekly primetime current scheduled to debut inside the fall. On April 22, the pair filmed a CNN promotional video that in no way aired (and sure in no way will) whereby they talked about how the current acquired right here collectively.
“The one reply for me is Chris Licht,” King said inside the promo. “He acquired right here to me with the thought. We labored collectively sooner than. That, to me, is why I’m at CNN.”
Whether or not or not or not Zaslav engages with Zucker or anyone on a potential CNN bid seems unlikely in the interim. Nevertheless a model new Zucker-induced disadvantage has emerged for Zaslav inside the kind of Chris Cuomo’s $125 million arbitration demand in the direction of his former employer. That battle, which has been simmering since March 2022, is heating up. Once more in December 2021, Zucker fired the earlier CNN anchor for serving to his brother, Andrew, navigate the fallout from a variety of sexual-misconduct allegations. Chris Cuomo’s approved group is now arguing that Zucker sacrificed his star anchor to curry favor with the incoming Discovery regime and secure a promotion. (All through a CNBC interview, Malone had expressed disdain for the neighborhood’s partisan talking heads like Cuomo.) On the time, Zucker known as Zaslav, who was the incoming CEO, to convey that Cuomo had been fired sooner than the data broke, sources say. Cuomo’s authorized professionals plan to call Zaslav as a witness inside the case. It’s but yet one more occasion of the Zucker methodology at CNN — unrelenting drama that others, lastly, are tasked with cleaning up, in the event that they’ll.
Though Cuomo, who has found a model new home at fledgling nonpartisan neighborhood NewsNation, wouldn’t contact upon the report on the case itself, his arbitration demand gives a succinct analysis of his former boss Zucker: “CNN fostered a practice whereby the neighborhood’s necessities and practices have been a regularly shifting objective, modified at CNN executives’ discretion as they seen match. And that custom began on the prime with Zucker.”