Under CEO Chris Licht’s leadership for the last year or so, CNN has been working hard to rebrand the network as centrist, but they just can’t convince anyone. The new line-up has failed to impress very many, and CNN’s “This Morning” program featuring co-hosts Kaitlan Collins, Poppy Harlow, and Don Lemon was one of their biggest flops.
So on April 24, Lemon was fired and apparently went screaming out the door.
Licht is now ready to add insult to injury by offering Kaitlan Collins not only the Wednesday New Hampshire town hall featuring Trump, but he is reportedly preparing to offer Collins the opportunity to have her own prime time program slot. The very thing that was taken from Lemon.
Dylan Byers wrote: “This week, I learned that the CNN chief plans to offer Kaitlan a new contract to serve as the host of the network’s 9 p.m. primetime hour, which was once the province of Chris Cuomo (and, very briefly, Jake Tapper). The move, which could be announced as early as next week, would be the culmination of Collins’ rapid ascent from a twenty-something Trump White House correspondent to the network’s marquee star, and, at just 31 years old, the face of Licht’s New CNN.
As I noted a week ago, Kaitlan is now the primary talent on which Licht is staking his pivot to the middle, since the ill-fated Tapper primetime experiment obviously didn’t get him there.
Kaitlan’s offer is not contingent on her performance at tonight’s town hall, but, given the Trump X-factor, those 90 minutes have the potential to modify, accelerate, or stifle the arc of her career. (Just ask Megyn Kelly.) At the very least, her performance tonight will set the tone for a new Collins era at CNN, which, barring any f**k-ups, will run at least through the 2024 presidential election.”
Can you hear Lemon screaming again?
This makes zero sense and again shows how far out of his depth Chris Licht is as CNN president. Kaitlin Collins is a correspondent/reporter, not a morning show host. And certainly not a primetime host. There are intangibles in those roles. Feel free to revisit this in May '24… https://t.co/f6P957oBsz
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) May 10, 2023
