By David Bauder, Media Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --CNN is bringing in a former chief executive of the BBC and The New York Times in an attempt to turn around a news organization that has burned through two leaders and bled viewers over the past two years.
Mark Thompson was appointed as chair and CEO of CNN by David Zaslav, head of the network's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, which made the announcement Wednesday. Thompson replaces Chris Licht, who was fired in June, and a four-person team that had been running CNN in the interim.
Thompson, who left the Times in 2020 after eight years as that company's president and CEO, is credited with transforming it to a digital-first organization more dependent on paid subscribers than the collapsing advertising market that has doomed many newspapers. The England native was director-general of the BBC from 2004 to 2012.
Zaslav called him a "true innovator" who pushed two of the world's most respected news organizations into the digital age.
"His strategic vision, track record in transformational leadership and sheer passion for news makes him a formidable force for CNN and journalism at this pivotal time," he said.
In a statement, Thompson — who has been knighted by the British government — said that "where others see disruption, I see opportunity."
Licht was let go after a stormy 13 months that saw CNN fall well behind Fox News and MSNBC in popularity, with opinionated news connecting more with viewers in a politically polarized time. He had encouraged CNN to find a middle ground and flex its newsgathering muscles.
He was doomed at the end by a damning Atlantic magazine profile that showed his failure to connect with many employees, many loyal to his predecessor, Jeff Zucker. Zucker was pushed out in February 2022 after failing to disclose to his bosses a romantic relationship with a fellow network executive.
Besides ratings, CNN's finances have suffered. The network earned $892 million in profit in 2022, down from $1.08 billion in 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Shortly after Licht was named to his new job, CNN's new corporate masters pulled the plug on a well-publicized streaming service after only weeks in operation. Just this month, it announced that CNN news would be part of its Max streaming service.
CNN also fired two popular primetime hosts over the past two years, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon, the latter after an ill-fated move to a new morning show.
Licht never settled on a new primetime lineup in his tenure. The four-person interim leadership team — Amy Entelis, David Leavy, Virginia Moseley and Eric Sherling — recently set a new lineup that includes Kaitlan Collins, Abby Phillip and Laura Coates in weeknight roles, with veteran Christiane Amanpour and Chris Wallace getting new weekend gigs.
Thompson's selection was first reported Tuesday night by Puck.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults โ two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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