Anderson Cooper wasn’t concerned about Licht’s goals for CNN
Speaking about former CNN boss Chris Licht’s exit from the network, Anderson Cooper said he’s still not entirely sure what his goal is.
Licht was fired in June, just over a year after taking the top position at CNN. His tenure at the station was marred by poorly received programming decisions, declining advertising revenues and a controversial live townhall conference with Donald Trump.
Cooper when asked in an interview with the The New York Times When Licht felt that CNN needed a rebrand to attract more viewers, he responded that he “didn’t have a lot of confidence” in actually knowing what Licht was thinking at the time.
Which Cooper said was a “problem” for the network. “I’ve read things in the newspaper but I’m not sure what they were about,” the veteran CNN host said.
“I met with Chris and had a general idea of what this was about,” Cooper continued. “I don’t want to be unfair. I understood what the idea and the vision were.”
As part of CNN, Cooper wants the network to “do well” and be “respected,” but he tries to “take care of things that I actually get my hands on.” For me, it’s the show I work on.”
“My impression of Chris was that because I’m not a opinion moderator, we didn’t have to clarify much,” Cooper noted. “I speak to people from all sides and I try to get to the heart of the matter and present things fairly and accurately.”
“I keep my head down,” Cooper said.
According to the CNN host, he had a meeting with Licht when he took up his role as the network’s CEO and “has been in touch with the grassroots from time to time” but hasn’t had “much communication.”
When asked about CNN’s infamous town hall with Trump, Cooper said if the former president had returned to the network, he “wouldn’t have done a town hall.” However, Cooper noted that it wasn’t his decision and he was “not involved.” However, he tried to stem the backlash in the aftermath by addressing critics as people who “haven’t been paying attention since he left office” and who “enjoy not hearing from him”. City hall critics, Cooper said on the show, “may be thinking, ‘This can’t happen again, some investigation is going to stop him’?” Well, that hasn’t been the case yet.”
Last week, CNN announced its new CEO, former New York Times and BBC executive Mark Thompson, who is credited with turning the Times into a successful digital media company.
Ross A. Lincoln contributed to this report.