Jeff Zucker Out at CNN
[guest post by JVW]
CNN president Jeff Zucker resigned from his position earlier today after it no longer became tenable for him to lead that ethically-challenged organization while carrying on a romantic relationship with a subordinate, who has been identified as Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Office, Allison Gollust. Zucker explains it this way:
As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years. I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong.
As a result, I am resigning today.
This is perhaps the culmination (I write “perhaps,” because who knows what other ridiculous developments are yet to come) of a really miserable last few years for CNN in the Trump and then post-Trump media landscape. Ratings have plummeted since being goosed upwards during the January 6, 2021 Washington DC riots and aftermath, to the degree where not only is “The Most Trusted Name in News” lagging well behind arch-rival Fox News in ratings, but they are now getting regularly beat in key time slots by ideologically-friendly competitor MSNBC.
After gaining viewership during the early days of the Trump Administration when CNN — long-derided by conservatives as slanted to the left (it was dubbed the “Clinton News Network” by the late Rush Limbaugh) — took an aggressive posture to dealing with President 45. The network was understandably ridiculed for spending much of 2018 promoting the fraudulent hustler Michael Avenatti, to the point of actually promoting him as a plausible Presidential candidate to take on Donald Trump. They followed-up that embarrassment by first suspending and then rehabilitating analyst Jeffrey Toobin, a partisan hack who brings marginal value to legal commentary, after he had disgraced himself and likely traumatized an entire Zoom room with remote workplace Onanism. Toobin had already distinguished himself at the network by carrying on an extramarital affair with the daughter of a colleague and then having to be hauled into court as a deadbeat to pay child support. It’s long been wondered why CNN was willing to tolerate Toobin, who doesn’t seem to drive ratings at all and who is clearly a human resources department nightmare. The latest revelations against Zucker perhaps provide a clue why the network was so blasé about Toobin’s gross behavior.
And then there’s the network’s on-staff sexual predators. CNN producer John Griffin was arrested at the end of last year and charged with disgusting sexual practices with young girls. Griffin had been lead producer on the show “Cuomo Prime Time” featuring the sleazy and stupid host Christopher Cuomo, who himself was fired by the network when credible accusations of sexual harassment emerged after it had become clear that the host had flouted network rules about using his position to help his embattled thuggish and corrupt brother, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, fight back against sexual harassment charges of his own. The Cuomo Brothers, let us not forget, had become huge CNN stars during the COVID-19 lockdown, even though media ethics watchdogs had questioned the appropriateness of letting Fredo devote a great chunk of his “news program” to mindless banter with Sonny.
We’re bound to learn more about the Jeff Zucker-Allison Gollust relationship in the days to come, especially why it was allowed to go on for so long considering that it was apparently pretty much obvious to everyone at the network. One tantalizing report is that it was the Chris Cuomo legal team who pushed hard to bring this matter forward, so one cheer to Fredo if he indeed is behind Zucker’s resignation. And Megyn Kelly, who never worked at CNN but knows a thing or two about the boss chasing after the gals in the office, provides this prediction:
Zucker’s relationship with Gollust went on for years, and what he did to keep her near him (as he kept advancing her up the line) will be even more stunning to the CNN news room. https://t.co/STe578EX3W
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) February 2, 2022
Oh, and as a fun coda, do you know what Allison Gollust did before she started working under (and on top of, and side-by-side, and — sorry, I shouldn’t have gone there) Jeff Zucker at CNN? That’s right, she was communications director for Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York. These people are absolutely shameless, and CNN has way too many clowns packed into that tiny car.
– JVW
I mean I guess this proves that it’s true an entire workplace will adopt the ethics and morals of its leadership team.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 1:40 pmShe and her husband moved in the same apartment building as zucker and his wife
Eyebrows raised
EPWJ (0fbe92) — 2/2/2022 @ 1:46 pmNew York values.
nk (1d9030) — 2/2/2022 @ 1:52 pmKamala Harris fails to see what all of the fuss is about.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 1:54 pmPutting the ew in news…
Appalled (1a17de) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:01 pmAlways telling when people cite CNN in a positive manner. Especially when they virtue signal their moralizing.
May he take down the rest of the ship.
NJRob (cc7e2d) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:10 pmHe was on his way out anyway – better to try to spin it as an ‘I jumped and wasn’t shoved moment.’ CNN became impossible to watch for news for some time now.
This… is CNN: the entertainment pee Zucker pissed into the CNN water coolers has been tainting the network for a decade– cooking shows, movie star profiles, decade retro documentaries, game show segments, etc., etc., all of which belong on the E!, not a news network— and worst of all, news readers drunk on air for New Year’s, tattooing and ear piercing themselves, blatantly race baiting while covering for sexist nepotism- all while chasing ratings by first building up a political candidate or an issue, then obsessively tearing them down. Walter Cronkite is rolling over in his grave.
When your “news network” makes viewers more aware of teleprompter reader’s sexual preferences and personal peeves than it does about war, peace and discovering water on the moon, it’s time for a major management change given their cratering ratings on Earth. Ted Turner’s original concept was to make the news the star, not the news readers. Time to get back to that.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:11 pmMiss Gollust claimed that their “relationship changed during Covid,” which would put it during 2020-2021, yet Katie Couric, in her published memoir, states that the couple were “joined at the hip” back when he was with NBC.
Fox News is number one among cable networks, while MSNBC is number two, proving that there really is a market for the 24-hour news networks, yet CNN is getting beat by HGTV, the Hallmark Channel and the Food Network. Mr Zucker and his entire leadership team should have been shown the door years ago for destroying the network, but he only
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (6a9600) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:16 pmgetting firedresigning because he was sleeping with the help?He was on his way out anyway – better to try to spin it as an ‘I jumped and wasn’t shoved moment.’
Yeah, but I don’t think anybody is fooled by this. Everyone knows he would have been s***-canned had he not tendered his resignation.
I’m thinking this is a modern form of sexism: Ms. Gollust apparently gets to keep her job. Like Zucker, she too was married (EPWJ mentioned the sordid detail of the two lovers living in the same apartment building), and if you are as much of a woke feminist as I am and believe that women have agency then why wouldn’t you also discipline her for working her way up the org chart in the old-fashioned Mad Men way? At the very least, demote her back to where she was when she returned to the company seven years ago or whenever it was. But I’m sure CNN, being progressive and awash in social justice, has already declared that Ms. Gollust is a victim, not an enabler or opportunist.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:17 pmMiss Gollust claimed that their “relationship changed during Covid,” which would put it during 2020-2021, yet Katie Couric, in her published memoir, states that the couple were “joined at the hip” back when he was with NBC.
Yep. And this is why I take seriously Megyn Kelly’s claims that there might be further sordid details to emerge in coming days.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:18 pmDCSCA wrote:
Fox News became number one in part because they put pretty women in short skirts as their anchors.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (6a9600) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:19 pmJVW wrote:
Yeah, but she’s now career limited; she keeps her job but is toast as far as promotability.
Mr Zucker’s net worth is guesstimated to be $60 million; he doesn’t have to worry. Perhaps he negotiated his resignation, in a way to help Miss Gollust keep hers. AT&T was already planning to divest itself of WarnerMedia, CNN’s parent company, and it’s difficult to believe that the news of the Zucker-Gollust relationship didn’t have any impact on that decision.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (6a9600) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:24 pmFox News became number one in part because they put pretty women in short skirts as their anchors.
Lip gloss, leg lights and cleavage rouge!
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:29 pmYeah, but she’s now career limited; she keeps her job but is toast as far as promotability.
She’s an executive vice-president. Unless she really really really wanted the top job, she remains in an outstanding position (there I go again with my double entendres).
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:34 pmYep. And this is why I take seriously Megyn Kelly’s claims…
ROFLMAOPIP… like Jesus and Santa are white?!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9vX8_VthW
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:35 pmSorry to segue from CNN, but in the wake of Whoopi, the ADL once again redefined racism:
They took out their earlier racist reference about “white people”. Progress!
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:37 pmFormer President Trump is handling the news in his typically restrained and classy manner. But I confess that I guffawed at his statement.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:37 pmDCSCA wrote:
You do what works!
Note that local television stations weather girls are normally hot. And the Weather Channel, even though their primary female anchors are in their forties, has their women in dresses and f(ornicate) me heels, while the male anchors are getting to dress more casually.
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (6a9600) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:38 pmCorporations used to have interlocking boards of directors, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t interlock like this.
Kevin M (38e250) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:38 pmIf you take a look at photos of the two, Mr Jeff is tres ugly, and she is in the 7-8 range and 30 years his junior. What I cannot understand is how the people she was promoted over kept their mouths shut. Maybe they didn’t and got fired for their trouble? Megan may have a clue there.
Kevin M (38e250) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:41 pmShe and her husband moved in the same apartment building as zucker and his wife
You can read whole articles on this event without learning that either person was married, let alone this tidbit. It’s like scandals in the newsroom are treated with professional courtesy.
Kevin M (38e250) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:43 pmMr M wrote:
With a base salary of $6.3 million and a guesstimated net worth of $60 million, perhaps there are reasons other than his looks which attracted her?
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (6a9600) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:44 pmhttps://images.tedium.co/uploads/0502_kinsley.jpg
mg (8cbc69) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:46 pmThose two were entertaining.
Mr M wrote:
The New York Times noted that both are divorced. That they lived in the same building when they were both married was, I believe, from the New York Post.
One story has it that the relationship was discovered when CNN was investigating
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (6a9600) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:50 pmFredoChris Cuomo for providing help for his brother in his brother’s scandals, and Mr Cuomo then spilled the beans about Mr Zucker and Miss Gollust to divert attention away from him, or maybe out of revenge, but who can really know? These stories start to metastasize once they break, but one thing seems clear: this relationship was not that much of a secret at CNN.Zucker is 56. It’s hard to know a lady’s age, but her work history would make her between 45 and 50.
nk (1d9030) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:51 pm@9. Well, can tell you from my CBS days in the 80s that women were hired for their looks, not their resumes, and the hotter babes were planted outside the executive offices. t was an ‘unwritten law.’ Drove the female producers I worked with nuts- but they were a bit dykish, anyway. I remember recommending hiring this attractive blonde who interviewed over a less attractive brunette- who was equally qualified- simply because she was much more pleasurable to look at al day and the girls- uh, women– went crazy. Seemed a smart move to me. [Never forgot my late father’s comment one morning, sipping coffee and staring at a muted TV w/NBC’s ‘Today’ on and Barbara Walters babbling in silence and he muttered, ‘How anybody could want to wake up and see that face in the morning is beyond me.” He was so right.] But at CBS then, they had an image to project and it wanted its women preppy, pretty, educated, well-dressed– and preferably from Connecticut—-not New Jersey. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:51 pmIf you take a look at photos of the two, Mr Jeff is tres ugly, and she is in the 7-8 range and 30 years his junior.
I’m trying to find where I saw it earlier today, but I think the two are closer to 10-12 years apart in age. Zucker is only 56 according to Wikipedia, which would put her somewhere in her early-to-mid 40s. They have apparently had a “professional relationship” for 20 years.
And Megyn Kelly appears to have been correct: all sorts of media figures are starting to spill the beans on how long the Zucker-Gollust attachment has likely been going on. Of course all of these media folks kept their mouths shut when Zucker was using his clout to protect the Cuomo boors, so no profile in courage there.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:53 pmAm I the only one to whom the expression “work wife” occurred?
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (6a9600) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:54 pmFriends with benefits.
nk (1d9030) — 2/2/2022 @ 2:57 pmAs others have pointed out, Ms. Gollust claims that she and Zucker only became intimate during COVID, which would have been after Zucker’s 2018 divorce. (I can’t seem to find information on when Ms. Gollust and her ex-husband split up, but I do read that she is divorced too.) But I am guessing that if we find out their affair began earlier, CNN will have no choice other than to fire her too. It’s one thing to have an affair with the boss; it’s another thing to be caught lying about the particulars of it once it comes to light.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:01 pm@18. I know; our offices were at 1211 6th– 2nd floor in the 80’s; I keep wondering which lovely set of… legs.. is sitting behind my desk now. 😉
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:04 pmGollust has refused to resign from the position she slept so hard to get. Is that Class azz or what?
mg (8cbc69) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:05 pmAlls well that ends well. Bye bye zuck! There ratings are in the toilet. First from russian/trump collusion hoax then jan.6 over reaction.
asset (a0cf07) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:07 pmOne has to give Tobin credit for keeping his hands on himself.
mg (8cbc69) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:09 pmMillionaire, poor, conservative, liberal, cave man or space man, one thing for sure – The little head gets the big head in trouble every time.
mg (8cbc69) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:13 pmOT- Bob Dole was buried today, February 2, at Arlington.
But he died December 5– nearly 2 months ago.
Give fresh meaning to living to a ‘ripe old age.’
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:21 pmThe Cuomo connection is intriguing. Their honey, their honey badger, or mere propinquity?
nk (1d9030) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:33 pmHere’s a gag-worthy collection of two clips with CNN on-air “talent,” one trying to defend the disgraced boss and the other celebrating the journalistic mediocrity and tanking ratings that he brought to the channel. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Please close down this network, stat; it’s just too chock-full of stupid people.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:38 pmZucker is only 56 according to Wikipedia, which would put her somewhere in her early-to-mid 40s. They have apparently had a “professional relationship” for 20 years.
Yes, OK. I was going by the photo, where she looked to be in her mid-to-late 30s and he looked like he was in his 60s. Which, for dating purposes, is what people go on anyway.
Kevin M (38e250) — 2/2/2022 @ 3:46 pm36, was he in his native Kansas at TOD? Should have had a truck version of the RFK procession.
urbanleftbehind (c073c9) — 2/2/2022 @ 5:40 pmJeffa The Zuck = Jabba The Hutt.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 9:06 pmWhy is trust in media plummeting? Just look at what’s happening at CNN
‘Media outlets are supposed to report the news not become it. On Wednesday CNN found itself coming afoul of that rule when Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned from his position as network president amid lurid circumstances. In a memo sent to colleagues, Zucker explained he was stepping down after failing to disclose a “consensual relationship” with a close colleague. While Zucker didn’t name the colleague directly, Allison Gollust, CNN’s executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, has confirmed her involvement in a memo to employees. Hang on a minute. Is a powerful man really resigning from a big job because he had a consensual relationship with a colleague? That’s not the usual way of things; many men have been accused of far worse transgressions and still managed to cling to power. Well here’s some context: Gollust happens to be the former communications director for disgraced former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. And Zucker’s relationship with Gollust came up during an internal investigation into former anchor Chris Cuomo, who was fired from CNN in December after using his job to help his brother, Andrew, combat sexual harassment allegations (leading some commentators to dub CNN the “Cuomo Nepotism Network.)
Zucker stood by Chris Cuomo for months when his conflict-of-interest scandal first hit but eventually fired him a few days after the anchor was accused of sexual misconduct by a junior colleague at another network. Like his brother, it seems Chris holds a grudge. Two sources told Politico that it was Cuomo’s legal team, which is still negotiating his exit from the network, who flagged the relationship between Zucker and Gollust. A reporter from media startup Puck News has also claimed that CNN received a letter from Cuomo’s lawyers asking for all communications between Zucker, Gollust and Cuomo to be preserved.
While Zucker may not be having a very good week, Donald Trump (whose views on CNN are common knowledge) is having a ball. “Jeff Zucker, a world-class sleazebag who has headed ratings and real-news-challenged CNN for far too long, has been terminated for numerous reasons, but predominantly because CNN has lost its way with viewers,” Trump wrote in a statement.
I hate to say it, but Trump has a point. You don’t have to be a cynic to reckon that CNN’s dismal ratings may factor into Zucker’s sudden departure: CNN had record ratings during the Trump years but has seen viewership plummet recently. The Cuomo scandal certainly hasn’t helped the network’s credibility: during the early days of the pandemic Chris Cuomo repeatedly interviewed his brother on air and it was largely treated like hilarious banter instead of a clear conflict of interest. And that’s hardly been the only embarrassment the network has suffered: last year Jeffrey Toobin, CNN’s chief legal analyst exposed himself on a Zoom call with colleagues. While the New Yorker fired Toobin from his staff writer position, CNN gave him a little tap on the wrist and put him back on the air.
There are lots of brilliant, hard-working, journalists at CNN. However, Zucker has a storied history in reality TV (he green-lit The Apprentice during his time at NBC) and, under his stewardship, CNN has treated politics like entertainment. There have been several instances where the most basic journalistic principles have gone out of the window because “good TV” was more important. In 2016, for example, CNN hired Corey Lewandowski to be a political commentator shortly after he’d been fired as Trump’s campaign manager. They hired Lewandowski to talk about politics when the man was still collecting severance pay from Trump and had signed a contract prohibiting him from disparaging Trump. And it gets worse: in 2019, after being accused of sexual assault and boasting that he has “no obligation to be honest with the media”, CNN invited him back on air.Trust in media has declined dramatically and the media can’t just blame that on people like Trump shouting “fake news”. There is a revolving door between high-profile jobs in cable news and big jobs in government: the idea that journalists and politicians are part of an overlapping “elite” with aligned interests isn’t entirely misplaced. Take Zucker’s public “feud” with Trump, for example. Rather than being sworn enemies, the two have always had a symbiotic relationship. Back in 2016 Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, secretly recorded conversations between the two in which Zucker can be heard lavishing praise on Trump, who he refers to as “the boss”. “I have all these proposals for [Trump],” Zucker says at one point in the tapes. “Like, I want to do a weekly show with him and all this stuff.”
Now that Zucker and Trump are both out of jobs, perhaps they’ll finally put that weekly show together. In the meantime the fallout at CNN should be a wakeup call for everyone in media. Trust is hard to win and very easy to lose.’- source, theguardian.com
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 10:25 pmThere should never have been trust in the media to begin with. Yellow journalism didn’t start last year. They called washington a king, jefferson the devil. lincoln an ape. Hearst and pullitzer were war mongers provoking the spanish american war. The chigao tribune wrote in 1942 that we had broken the japanese code. The corporate deep state came up with trust in the media to further their control of the masses hence mass media. What they don’t want you to know is news what they want you to know is propaganda. Woodword and bernstein never attended a white house press conference because they were investigative reporters not PR stooges like the nightly news.
asset (f36f9e) — 2/2/2022 @ 10:57 pm@43. And yet Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr., who, “during the 1960s and 1970s, was often cited as ‘the most trusted man in America’ after being so named in an opinion poll… For many years, until a decade after he left his post as anchor, [of the CBS Evening News] Cronkite was considered one of the most trusted figures in the United States. For most of his 19 years as anchor, he was the “predominant news voice in America.” Affectionately known as “Uncle Walter,” he covered many of the important news events of the era so effectively that his image and voice are closely associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the Vietnam War, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the Watergate scandal. USA Today wrote that “few TV figures have ever had as much power as Cronkite did at his height.’- source, wikibio
And that, asset, is the way it is.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 11:37 pmStelter had to know this.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/2/2022 @ 11:38 pmThe new CEO needs to fire his butt if he hasn’t resigned already.
@45. Expect a lot of house cleaning there finally– depending on how the contracts w/t talent were quilled. They do have some good journalists at CNN– it’s just a matter of management letting them do it and scrubbing off the lacquer of entertainment veneer.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/2/2022 @ 11:55 pmZucker’s no Dick Salant… or Bob Wussler. There isn’t a television hell hot enough for him- other than to be locked in an editing room with a bucket, a hose and a Sears catalogue and forced to watch ‘Network’ on a loop for as long as he helmed CNN.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/3/2022 @ 12:10 amCNN journalists who should stay: Tapper, Erin Burnett, Brianna Keilar and her co-host, Smerconish, that Boris guy.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/3/2022 @ 12:13 amCNN journalists on the bubble: Blitzer, Anderson
VanderbiltCooper, the King-Bash wedded duo.CNN journalists who should be sacked: Everyone else.
The new CEO should have a lot of room to make changes. One suggestion: Hire Brian Williams to compete directly against Hannity/Maddow, call it the 1800 Hour.
What about the Lemon, Paul Montagu?
mg (8cbc69) — 2/3/2022 @ 2:15 amPhrases like “everyone else” mean things, mg.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/3/2022 @ 6:23 amThe New York Post has a lot today on this, including Allison Gollust’s age and divorce dates. Zucker knew her even before she first worked for him at NBC.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 2/3/2022 @ 7:18 amIn France nobody would care. Only in puritanical America is this a big deal.
Rip Murdock (d93e1f) — 2/3/2022 @ 7:30 amNobody cares in America, either, if it’s the “talent” that does it. In fact they celebrate it and exploit it, and have a whole entertainment-gossip industry built around it. (As long as it does not
scare the horseshurt the brand.)They care when it’s the people in charge of their investment assets who do it. You know, the executives, the directors, the managers, who are supposed to return a profit and keep the market cap up along with their drawers. Zucker was not being paid a gazillion simoleons to have his ashes hauled.
nk (1d9030) — 2/3/2022 @ 7:58 amThis is a very constructive comment, Paul. I look forward to any discussion it elicits. I’m looking at you, [insert any of our well-known scolds].
felipe (484255) — 2/3/2022 @ 8:06 amYes, a vicarious propensity we all share if the image can be suffered. Yes, money changes everything.
felipe (484255) — 2/3/2022 @ 8:12 amFormer President Trump is handling the news in his typically restrained and classy manner.
I’m sure it was full of humility and introspection.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 2/3/2022 @ 8:48 amAt least Zucker was not recorded boasting about the possibility of grabbing someone by her genitals.
Compare CNN to Disney, and Zuck to screenwriter James Gunn. (Scooby-Doo, Guardians of the Galaxy, Peacemaker…)
Zuck actually violated women. (His wife, for starters. All the female employees who were crowded aside from jobs, by his mistress’s promotions. His mistress herself, who must have been widely regarded as a professional imposter…) Gunn, a decade before becoming halfway famous in the movie biz, made offensive tweets. Also, Gunn wrote an R-rated scene for a kid’s movie (Velma making out with Daphne) that the studio, no doubt correctly, decided to cut. At each offense, Gunn got his wrist slapped. He was only brought back because he was good at his job — drawing in his target audience. Zuck never got the wrist slap or even a tongue lashing. (Well, not from CNN. What happened behind closed doors is between him and his mistress.) But he continued to get paid even though he manifestly was NOT good at his job. Even the travelers stuck watching his shows at the airport were unhappy with Zuck’s CNN.
So, what sorts of conjectures, hypothesis or theories would account for the behaviors?
pouncer (6c33cf) — 2/3/2022 @ 8:51 amThank you, felipe.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/3/2022 @ 8:53 amPaul Montagu (5de684) — 2/3/2022 @ 12:13 am
But they’ll do something stupid instead. Maybe they’ll hire both Hannity and Maddow and make them co-anchors at 6.
Kevin M (38e250) — 2/3/2022 @ 9:49 amMy mistake Paul Montagu.
mg (8cbc69) — 2/3/2022 @ 10:30 amI still get a good laugh off the CNN livestock deworming lies video montages.
frosty (f27e97) — 2/3/2022 @ 10:35 amPaul Montagu (5de684) — 2/3/2022 @ 12:13 am
I think you’ve got it just about right with your assessment. Rumor has it that the new corporate overlords want CNN to dial-down the partisanship and attempt a return to more even-handed news coverage (i.e., they know they can’t compete with MSNBC), so one way for them to prove they are serious about this would be a major housecleaning of the on-air “talent.”
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/3/2022 @ 10:41 am@62. No. As long as you can list the names of ‘news readers’ preferred ahead of the stories the news organization reported, it’s a failure. [For example, CNN’s coverage of the Challenger disaster was comprehensive– and LIVE- if memory serves, the only other TV news outlet carrying it LIVE was a local NBC affiliate in LA.] Who was reporting was irrelevant. That was the brilliance of Turner’s CNN — and before that, deep-benched CBS News back in the day as well. Turner’s original concept was right– it was real time coverage of global events, not on-camera personalities, which made it work.
The irony is Zucker was literally “breaking news” since the day he took over.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/3/2022 @ 11:01 ampouncer (6c33cf) — 2/3/2022 @ 8:51 am
But he continued to get paid even though he manifestly was NOT good at his job.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 2/3/2022 @ 11:01 amIt’s cool, mg.
Paul Montagu (5de684) — 2/3/2022 @ 11:03 amThe focus on who is reading the news off as teleprompter rather than the stories a reporter out in the field are assigned to cover is a partisan flaw. And what is covered is the responsibility of the news director– who you never see on air.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/3/2022 @ 11:06 amThe first thing CNN must do to rebuild is eliminate the format which promotes the news reader and not the news to be reported. Like dumping ‘AC360’ [hyping Anderson Cooper] and ‘Don Lemon Tonight’… that sort of thing. Then dump all the entertainment programming, keep two opinion programs for weekend filler and go back to live global coverage. There will be slow domestic news days– and ad revenue will vary but CNN is an international operation and news from London or Dubai or Sydney or Dubai can work. It’ll take a while to rebuild, but in the cable landscape, to become the lone, true NEWS channel would make it a slam dunk competitor again. Its only competitors now are either heavily larded up with lazy opinion programming or airing reruns on weekends.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/3/2022 @ 11:22 amDCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/3/2022 @ 11:22 am
It’s sounds like you are arguing for a return of Christiane Amanpour, and I’m not going to sit idly by and allow that to happen! Not on my watch.
JVW (ee64e4) — 2/3/2022 @ 11:27 amperhaps maddow can cross over
mg (8cbc69) — 2/3/2022 @ 11:52 amMore corporate meda pseudo integrity. This allows them to get rid of who they want to get rid of. It used to be called the old army game.
asset (1676da) — 2/3/2022 @ 12:32 pm@68. Perhaps you don’t recall Amanpour clinging to a Moscow rooftop reporting live on CNNas ‘The White House’; in downtown Moscow was being shelled by tanks during the Second Russian Revolution.
Amanpour is a journalist. The likes of a Keilar or a Cuomo are not.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/3/2022 @ 2:18 pmWith Mr Zucker out, CNN will be run by three current top executives until a new president is selected, but that raises the obvious question: did they know about Mr Zucker and Mrs Gollust’s affair, and that it was against whatever human resources restrictions there were, and turn a blind eye to it?
The libertarian, but not Libertarian, Dana (6a9600) — 2/3/2022 @ 3:28 pmWas going over in my little brain all the old newsmen that have come and gone and for some reason I always liked the way Chet Huntley delivered the news. The Huntley Brinkley Report.
mg (8cbc69) — 2/3/2022 @ 3:40 pmWith Mr Zucker out, CNN will be run by three current top executives until a new president is selected, but that raises the obvious question: did they know about Mr Zucker and Mrs Gollust’s affair, and that it was against whatever human resources restrictions there were, and turn a blind eye to it?
When a chicken gets its head cut off, it runs around for a time, too– then drops. New ownership will clean house at CNN. Existing management will either conform, perform— or get their heads cut off and handed their walking papers.
DCSCA (f4c5e5) — 2/3/2022 @ 3:47 pmIf Gollust wanted to get to the top she should have been making love to Willie Brown.
mg (8cbc69) — 2/4/2022 @ 2:42 amZucker resigned, it is believed, because Chris Cuomo, disappointed at not getting approximately $18 milllion severance, thretaned to sue on the grounds that AT&T was not consistent in enforcing its employee policies, and mentioned Zucker’s affair. Zucker was interviewed by AT&T lawyers and was caught in a lie.
He is also reputed to have quit in order to prevent violations of other CNN policies from being revealed or possibly that is another thing. CNN was urging New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to go on the air, (not illegitimate in itself) and may have been instrumental in persuading him to do more briefings (many networks aired them it boosted CNN’s ratings relative to other networks) And CNN even encouraged Cuomo to attack Trump (after all, they can say, it raised the ratings of the press briefings) and coached him at times.
Chris Cuomo did not get any money, but he is persisting in his lawsuit, and AT&T may settle in order to prevent Zucker from having to testify. He may get about half – $9 million – in order to prevent CNN or Zucker or some other executives from being embarrassed.
Sammy Finkelman (c49738) — 2/4/2022 @ 11:38 am