Jeff Zucker, former CNN president, has neared an agreement to acquire The Daily Telegraph, an influential conservative newspaper in the U.K., and sister publication The Spectator, a similarly right-leaning magazine. 

Zucker’s RedBird IMI bid around $1.4 billion for the publications, which went up for auction after their owner, the Barclay family, defaulted on a loan. 

The New York Times reported that Zucker’s deal for the publications is not final. 

CNN fired Zucker last year after he failed to disclose a relationship with Allison Gollust, who was CNN’s executive VP and chief marketing officer. 

According to published reports, Zucker is eyeing an expansion of the U.K. publications into the U.S. He plans to remain in New York, and will not oversee day-to-day news coverage, focusing instead on strategy. 

Zucker took over as CNN Worldwide president in 2013. Earlier in his career, he was an executive producer on Today and on NBC Nightly News, and then was NBC Entertainment president before he was named president and CEO of NBC Universal. He held the latter position from 2007 to 2011.  

Veteran producer Chris Licht will replace Jeff Zucker as CNN's top executive once parent company WarnerMedia completes its $43 billion spinoff from AT&T and merger with Discovery in April.

Updated 2/28/2022: Soon-to-be corporate overlord Discovery and its CEO, David Zaslav, made the news, leaked over the weekend, official on Monday. 

“I have known and admired Chris for more than 15 years and strongly believe he is the best person to lead CNN Global as part of Warner Bros. Discovery," Zaslav said in a statement. "Chris is a dynamic and creative producer, an engaging and thoughtful journalist, and a true news person. He has more than two decades of broadcast experience across local, cable and national news. He has been in the field, in the control room and on the set. He is a highly principled individual who is trusted, hard-working and makes every organization stronger, more innovative, and more cohesive.” 

Licht, 50, currently serves as executive producer of CBS' The Late Show with Steven Colbert, as well as VP of special programming for the erstwhile ViacomCBS. He's also credited with creating MSNBC's Morning Joe and overseeing the revamp of CBS This Morning. 

Licht joins CNN as it tries to regain linear ratings traction that slipped dramatically following Donald Trump's exit from the White House. CNN is also set to launch a $4.99 over-the-top service in the next few weeks. There's the merger. Oh, and Zucker, who abruptly departed in January amid "revelations" of his longtime relationship with an underling, former CMO Allison Gollust, enjoyed robust popularity and loyalty among current CNN staff. 

Licht will also oversee CNN at a key point during which its tone will be tightly scrutinized -- for example, media baron John Malone, who sits on the Discovery board, has publicly stated a desire for the news channel to adopt a more neutral, centrist public image, a position that is literally wide open in a cable news market largely ceded by channels that have evolved into propaganda networks. 

Zaslav will run the combined Warner Discovery. 

Discussing CNN during Discovery's Q4 earnings call on Thursday, Zaslav noted that, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, other cable news networks have anchors "sitting behind desks and giving their opinion about what's going on." CNN, however, is "on the ground with journalists in bulletproof vests and helmets that are doing what journalists do best, which is fight to tell the truth in dangerous places. So that we all can be safe and we can assess what's going on."

Licht's TV journalism pedigree dates back to powerful NBC O&O KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, where he worked during the all-encompassing murder trial of O.J. Simpson in the mid-1990s. He joined MSNBC in 2005 as the executive producer of the network's Scarborough Country.

CNN said Allison Gollust, its executive VP and chief marketing officer, has resigned after an investigation into issues surrounding former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and his brother, former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, found she violated CNN's news standards and practices.

CNN said former network chief Jeff Zucker also violated standards and practices. Zucker resigned on February 2 with an admission that he had failed to disclose an intimate relationship with Gollust, who reported to him.

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar disclosed the findings and Gollust's resignation in an internal memo. CNN anchor Brian Stelter tweeted the memo, which stated that an investigation by a third-party law firm, Cravath, and led by a former judge "was comprehensive and definitive" and found violations of company policies.

Stelter further reported that Gollust responded by telling colleagues in an email: "WarnerMedia's statement tonight is an attempt to retaliate against me and change the media narrative in the wake of their disastrous handling of the last two weeks. It is deeply disappointing that after spending the past nine years defending and upholding CNN's highest standards of journalistic integrity, I would be treated this way as I leave," Gollust said. "But I do so with my head held high, knowing that I gave my heart and soul to working with the finest journalists in the world."

Gollust joined CNN in 2013, reuniting there with CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker, for whom she headed corporate communications while Zucker was CEO of NBCUniversal. Before joining CNN she worked as communications director for Governor Cuomo.

CNN is in the process of being spun off with other WarnerMedia assets and sold to Discovery.

The New York Times also published a story about the investigation into Chris Cuomo and Zucker, including that CNN had received a letter from a lawyer representing a former colleague of Cuomo's at ABC News. The former colleague claimed that Cuomo had sexually assaulted her and that "Mr. Cuomo had tried to keep her quiet by arranging a flattering CNN segment about her employer at the time." Days after receiving the letter, Zucker fired Cuomo, the Times said, adding that a spokesman for Cuomo denied the allegations. Zucker then resigned two months later. ■

Forty-eight hours after one of the media business' more stunning executive exits in recent memory, speculation continues to swirl as to who, if anyone, put the knife in the back of former CNN chief Jeff Zucker, and what will happen now to the cable news network and its soon-to-launch digital offshoot, CNN Plus. 

On Friday, in separate CNBC appearances, Discovery CEO David Zaslav and AT&T chief executive John Stankey each, somewhat indirectly, addressed those concerns. 

Also: Now What For CNN Plus Amid Jeff Zucker’s Hasty Departure?

Zaslav, who will oversee the combined Warner Bros. Discovery once the $43 billion deal to spin off CNN parent WarnerMedia from AT&T and combine it with Discovery closes in the next several months, dismissed an emerging rumor suggesting that Zucker was pushed out by the powerful John Malone. 

The mogul sits on the Discovery board and has expressed frustration with CNN's perceived leftward repositioning on the political spectrum under Zucker. (This is actually a debatable narrative, given the extreme rightward reorientation of Fox News and other conservative cable channels in recent years.)

Notably, the approval of WarnerMedia's acquisition by AT&T faced rugged regulatory seas back in 2018, with the Trump White House far more unhappy with CNN's coverage than Malone ever was. Discovery and AT&T are obviously hoping the regulatory process goes smoother this time around. 

“None of us had anything to do with it,” Zaslav said when asked about those Malone rumors. 

Zucker abruptly resigned Wednesday morning, citing his failure to disclose a romantic relationship with a top-level CNN marketing executive under his command, Allison Gollust. 

Zaslav said he learned about Zucker's departure only hours before it was announced. 

“Jeff is a good friend of mine, but I can’t speak to this issue,” he told CNBC.

Zaslav, however, did tip his hand as to how he views CNN's political orientation, a view that seems to align with comments made last year by Malone, who has been openly critical about Zucker's programming strategy. 

“We have this great entertainment menu, which should keep people in the home, from the kids to the grandparents. Why would they go anywhere else? And then we’re the leader in news to the left,” Zaslav said. 

Meanwhile, away from the Discovery board room, speculation has swirled that Zucker's relationship with Gollust -- long a not very well-kept secret -- became an issue only recently amid the acrimonious firing of top-rated CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

Did Cuomo exact revenge on his former boss, who refused to pay him a severance? Did the relationship merely provide an excuse for WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who was widely reported to have a chilly relationship with the popular newsroom leader, a reason to fire Zucker?

“I am not going to speculate on your theory,” Stankey said during his CNBC appearance. “I have always had a practice of not commenting on personnel decisions, and I’m not going to do that here.”

If the unreported romantic relationship between a supervisor and subordinate was a fireable offense, why is marketing chief Gollust still employed by CNN, Stankey was also asked?

“Allison, her circumstances are different, and I don’t want to get involved in discussing her situation," Stankey added. ■

It is possible that Jeff Zucker could have constructed a worse scenario for his all-too-abrupt departure this week, but I must confess that I am a human of very little imagination, and can’t think what that scenario might be. 

Zucker stunned his CNN staff Wednesday morning, resigning as president of the cable news organization and acknowledging he had previously failed to acknowledge his intimate relationship with his “closest colleague,” CNN Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust. 

Gollust, an exec VP with CNN, has worked closely with Zucker for many years, even living in the New York apartment above his when both were married to others and working at NBC, according to a passage in Katie Couric’s memoir. What Couric called a “super-strange" close working relationship back then “evolved” for the two subsequently divorced executives during the pandemic lockdown, Zucker said.

“I was required to disclose it when it began, but I didn’t,” Zucker wrote in a staff memo Wednesday morning. “I was wrong. As a result, I am resigning today.” 

The departure leaves the news organization rudderless at pretty much the worst possible time, as vast uncertainty and a major new initiative already were looming straight ahead. 

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, Zucker’s former boss, sent out an all-hands memo after Zucker’s resignation note, saying CNN will be led for now by the triumvirate of Michael Bass, Amy Entelis and Ken Jautz. Gollust will stay on, too. 

They’ll be charged with helping CNN figure out its future amid the declining business of pay-TV, where cord-cutting has eaten into ratings even for the biggest of the three cable news networks. 

For CNN, the ratings decline has been particularly sharp, especially since the 2020 election ended. It’s not clear whether fixes are possible amid the broader secular decline in cable television, even if mid-term elections likely will boost short-term audience and advertiser interest. 

At least some staffers are upset that Zucker had to quit, saying the punishment didn’t match the “crime.” The result is still more uncertainty and distraction.

“I came to this network with Jeff,” CNN political analyst S.E. Cupp told The Daily Beast. “I don’t know this network without Jeff. A stunning turn of events and an unknown future.” 

This time last year, Zucker reportedly had been considering retiring at the end of 2021. But he seemed revitalized by the surprise May announcement that AT&T would spin off WarnerMedia into an independent media company merged with Discovery, run by his long-time chum, Discovery CEO David Zaslav. 

While Zaslav is prepping for a move to a big Los Angeles mansion to run his new and much larger empire, plenty of CNN and other WarnerMedia employees are worried about what happens to them in the merged entity. 

Discovery puppet master John Malone has been chortling publicly over the potential for $3 billion in “synergies” when the deal closes, probably in Q2. For the potentially de-synergized, however, the deal means many months more of layoffs and reorganizations, after five years of such stuff since AT&T first began trying to acquire what’s now WarnerMedia.  

Somewhat improbably after the Discovery deal was announced, word surfaced that Zucker was championing creation of a subscription video service, to be called CNN Plus. This fall, the company began hiring hundreds of new staffers for the streaming service, including such high-profile recruits as Fox News’ Chris Wallace and NPR’s Audie Cornish. 

CNN Plus is supposed to launch this quarter, though I’d been told in December that timetable was optimistic. Zucker’s departure will only complicate timing for what already was an expensive, audacious, and risky move. 

Will Bass, Entails and Jautz bring the same shared vision as Zucker to CNN Plus’ direction? How long will the three need to figure out basic decision-making processes, priorities, and areas of responsibility? What gets pushed back, or to one side? 

For that matter, what will be Gollust’s role as chief marketing officer in launching CNN Plus, whenever it arrives? 

Marketing will be crucial to the success of the new service. One need only look at corporate sibling HBO Max’s badly botched launch nearly two years ago to see what crummy marketing can do to a promising product.

Kilar, who’d just come on board when HBO Max lurched out of the starting gate, was so unhappy with the stumbling result that he reorganized out of jobs many of Warner’s key executives involved in the debut. 

Now Kilar is almost certainly headed to the reorg bin himself, and both CNN and CNN Plus will have to figure out their place without benefit of the man who helped make both of them what they are. Should be a fun summer. 

 Jeff Zucker, president of CNN and parent company WarnerMedia’s news and sports division, resigned Wednesday as a relationship with another senior executive was revealed.

In a memo to staff, Zucker said that during the investigation into the behavior of former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, Zucker acknowledged a consensual relationship with CNN chief marketing officer Allison Gollust that goes back 20 years, to when both were with NBCUniversal.

“I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years,“ Zucker said in the memo. ”I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong.” 

 ”Jeff and I have been close friends and professional partners for over 20 years,” Gollust said in her own memo. “Recently, our relationship changed during COVID. I regret that we didn't disclose it at the right time. I'm incredibly proud of my time at CNN and look forward to continuing the great work we do every day." 

WarnerMedia is expected to be spun off by AT&T and become part of Discovery in the second quarter.

Zucker, who has been in charge as CNN‘s ratings plunged following last year’s presidential campaign, had announced plans last year to step down when his contract expired.

But Zucker is reportedly good friends with Discovery CEO David Zaslav, another NBCU colleague, and there was speculation about Zucker having a senior role in the new company, which will be called Warner Bros. Discovery.

Zucker has also been overseeing the launch of CNN Plus, a subscription streaming service. 

Kilar said the company would be announcing an interim leadership plan for CNN.

Starting as a wunderkind who quickly rose from an Olympics intern at NBC to executive producer of the Today show, Zucker has had a high-profile but sometimes controversial career.

He became head of entertainment at NBC and put Donald Trump on the air with The Apprentice. But he had few relationships in Hollywood and NBC’s primetime ratings crumbled. 

He attempted to manage a late-night transition from Jay Leno to Conan O’Brien. He gave Leno a show at 10 p.m. weeknights that drew low ratings, riled up affiliates and dragged down the Tonight Show franchise.

Zucker wound up yanking O’Brien, returning Leno to the Tonight Show desk.

Zucker was rewarded by being named CEO of NBCUniversal. He left that job when NBCU was acquired by Comcast.

After moving to CNN in 2013, Zucker let Trump have frequent access to TV as he began his unlikely 2016 run for president. After Trump was elected, he and his followers would deride CNN as “fake news.” ■

David Zaslav is definitely going back to Cali after Discovery closes its $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia next year, reigniting speculation that the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO could tap long-time CNN chief Jeff Zucker as his No. 2.

Zaslav has been expected to move to California for months (he bought former Paramount Pictures chieftain Bob Evans’s Beverly Hills mansion in 2020) but confirmed that re-domiciling yesterday (Nov. 10) at the Paley Center for Media’s virtual International Summit. 

“I’m moving to California,” Zaslav said. “That’s where I’m going to live. CNN is a big asset. I’ll come back here and spend time with the CNN asset, but I’m going to live in L.A. with an office on the lot. I’ll be at the lot, I’ll be at Culver City, because that’s where content is made. This is a content company. The better our content is, the better chance we have of being to the leading media company in the world.” 

With Zaslav in California, that could mean he will need a seasoned executive to steer the company’s New York operations: both Discovery and WarnerMedia have offices in the city. That refueled speculation that Zucker, a longtime friend of Zaslav’s dating back to their days at NBC, could be that man.

According to The Information, Zucker is a likely candidate for Zaslav’s No. 2  because the two have been friends for decades. Prior to becoming Discovery CEO in 2006, Zaslav spent about 18 years at NBC, and counts Zucker as a close friend. Zucker had his ups and downs at the broadcaster but ultimately became CEO of NBCUniversal in 2007. He left NBC in 2012 and joined CNN in 2013.

Zucker’s CNN tenure has been spotty. He was criticized early on for the 24-hour news network’s apparent obsession with an intestinally troubled cruise ship (dubbed the “poop ship”) in 2013 and a year later attracted ire over its incessant coverage of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. But he also boosted CNN’s ratings with its coverage of the ascent and decline of former President Donald Trump.  

In February, Zucker said he would resign at the end of 2021 when his contract is set to expire, but postponed that departure to the first half of next year, when the Discovery deal is expected to close.

Talk of Zucker’s potential return is nothing new, as pundits have been predicting it ever since the Discovery-WarnerMedia deal was unveiled in May. 

Zaslav praised Zucker at the Paley Center conference, but demurred when interviewer Ken Auletta asked whether the CNN executive would find a home within the new structure.

“We’re specifically not speaking to any individuals,” Zaslav said at the Paley conference. “I’ve worked with and for Jeff at NBC. He’s a superb executive. I like Jeff a lot, we’re good friends."

Zaslav added that he has taken the same stance in other Discovery deals with Scripps Networks and Eurosport, adding that the ultimate goal is to find the best people both inside and outside the company to build Warner Bros. Discovery into the best content company it can be. 

"We’ll do that after we close,” he said.

While Zaslav may or may not persuade Zucker to stay, at the Paley Center conference he seemed more intent on repairing bridges with filmmakers burned by the previous management’s (i.e. AT&T) plan last year to make the entire Warner Bros. 2021 movie slate available in theaters and through its HBO Max service on the same day.  

Warner Bros.’s day-and-date strategy, implemented by most likely outgoing WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, may have boosted HBO Max subscriber rolls but it forced some prominent filmmakers to rethink their relationship with the studio. Kilar insisted at the time that the experiment was only to last one year, and Zaslav spent a lot of time at the Paley conference driving that point home, professing his love for motion pictures viewed outside the home.

“Most of the people in this business got into the business because one day they went to the theater with their Mom or their Dad or their friends, the lights went out, there were no phones, they looked up at the screen and something magical happened,” Zaslav said. “And that’s where movie stars are made. Motion pictures, as you take them around the world, can change the culture. And most of the conversations that I’m having with talent, they want to be on the big screen still.”

Zaslav also stressed that as a pure-play content provider, Warner Bros. Discovery won't be distracted by other product lines.

“We’re not going to be saying, should we be spending money on broadband? Should we be spending money on more cloud? Should we be spending money on more infrastructure or our retail reach?” Zaslav said. “Almost every other media company we’ll be competing with, they’re in other businesses. This is a pure-play storytelling company.” 

Speaking of money, Zaslav said Warner Bros. Discovery is likely to boost its content spend in the future, but  added that the big money being shelled out by other streamers to poach showrunners and content developers from other outlets may be coming to a close.     

“There are a lot of players out there that are writing checks and that will get rationalized over the next couple of years, there will be less,” Zaslav said, adding that in the not too distant future, content creators will migrate to companies that give them the biggest exposure.

Netflix made headlines over the past few years by luring traditional TV and film producers like Shonda Rhimes, Ryan Murphy  and others with huge contracts to create shows for the streamer. Other services like Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV followed suit. 

While Zaslav said that money is important, it won’t be the biggest differentiator, invoking the names of past Warner Bros. chiefs like Steve Ross, Robert Daly and Barry Meyer, who were known for nurturing content creators during their tenures. 

“Ultimately, if that‘s the case, there will be a lot of great talent that will choose to come to Warner Bros. as a place where they will be supported,” Zaslav said.

The Cable Center said Tuesday that it has rescheduled its 23rd Annual Cable Hall of Fame virtual celebration to Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. (ET).

“As we continue to navigate the world of Covid and the necessary rescheduling of various industry events, we made the decision to move our Cable Hall of Fame celebration to a later date,” Cable Center president and CEO Jana Henthorn said in a press release. 

This is the fifth time the Cable Center has rescheduled the event. Originally it was to take place at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City on April 30, 2020,  but the pandemic pushed that date to that fall of that year. In June 2020, the date was again pushed ahead, to April 29, 2021 because of pandemic concerns, and in February 2021 said it would try to hold the event both live in New York and virtually on Oct. 20. In June 2021, the Center said the event would be held virtually-only on Oct. 20. 

On Tuesday, the Center said the event will premiere on C-SPAN 3 and be available to view simultaneously online at CSPAN.org. The program will also be featured in the C-SPAN Video Library and available for on demand viewing immediately following the event.

The Cable Hall of Fame selected seven industry leaders in March 2020 for this year’s class:  Baker Media CEO Bridget Baker; former Charter Communications EVP IT and Engineering Jim Blackley; Urban One founder and chairwoman Cathy Hughes; TV One chairman and CEO and Urban One CEO Alfred C. Liggins III; Cable Pioneer Jeff Marcus; Comcast Cable president and CEO Dave Watson; and WarnerMedia News & Sports president and president CNN Worldwide Jeff Zucker.

The Bresnan Ethics in Business Award will also be presented to Ted Turner, Environmentalist and Philanthropist, during the Cable Hall of Fame celebration.

The Cable Center said Tuesday that its 23rd annual Cable Hall of Fame celebration, slated for Oct. 20, will be held virtually.

“After much thought and consideration, The Cable Center decided that it was best to host our Cable Hall of Fame event virtually at this time,” The Cable Center president and CEO Jana Henthorn said in a press release. “We are eager to gather in spirit with the industry on October 20, and finally have the opportunity to celebrate our honorees.”

The celebration will air on C-SPAN 3 at 8p.m. ET and be available for view simultaneously on C-SPAN.org. The program will also be featured in the C-SPAN Video Library and available for on demand viewing immediately following the event.

The Cable Center had hoped to hold part of the celebration at its regular venue -- The Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City -- allowing those that couldn’t make the trip to participate virtually. Now it appears that the entire offering will be held online. 

The Cable Hall of Fame selected seven industry leaders in March 2020 for this year’s class:  Baker Media CEO Bridget Baker; former Charter Communications EVP IT and Engineering Jim Blackley; Urban One founder and chairwoman Cathy Hughes; TV One chairman and CEO and Urban One CEO Alfred C. Liggins III; Cable Pioneer Jeff Marcus; Comcast Cable president and CEO Dave Watson; and WarnerMedia News & Sports president and president CNN Worldwide Jeff Zucker.

The Bresnan Ethics in Business Award will also be presented to Ted Turner, Environmentalist and Philanthropist, during the Cable Hall of Fame celebration.

“This year has proven that our industry is extremely resilient and creative, and the Cable Hall of Fame will be no different,” Michael Willner, president and CEO of Penthera Partners and chairman of The Cable Center’s Board of Directors, said in a press release. “We have some fun surprises in store as we roll out the red carpet virtually for our honorees and we are thrilled that C-SPAN has agreed to air this engaging celebration. We can’t wait to induct our 2020 class and hope that everyone will support this must-see event by not only viewing but also through our unique sponsorship opportunities.”

The Cable Center is still confirming its plans for 2021 honorees. For more information on the celebration, visit www.cablehalloffame.com.

The Cable Center said Wednesday that it will reschedule its 23rd annual Cable Hall of Fame celebration to Oct. 20 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.

This is the fourth time the Center has had to reschedule the event. It was originally scheduled for April 30, 2020,  but was pushed to the fall of that year because of the pandemic.   In June 2020, it was rescheduled again to April 29, 2021.  

The Cable Hall of Fame inductees are: 

Bridget Baker: CEO Baker Media Inc.

Jim Blackley: Former EVP, IT and Engineering Charter Communications

Cathy Hughes: founder and chairwoman, Urban One

Alfred C. Liggins III: CEO, Urban One; chairman and CEO TV One

Jeff Marcus: Cable Pioneer

Dave Watson: president and CEO Comcast Cable

Jeff Zucker: chairman, WarnerMedia, News & Sports and president, CNN Worldwide 

The Bresnan Ethics in Business Award will also be presented to Ted Turner during the celebration. For those unable to gather in-person, the Cable Center said it will host a virtual celebration.

The Center said it is still confirming its plans for 2021 honorees. For more information on the celebration, visit www.cablehalloffame.com.

CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker said he plans to stay at the news network through the end of 2021, when his contract expires, according to published reports.

Some earlier stories had indicated that Zucker was having differences with his bosses at AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit and was considering leaving earlier.

“I cannot imagine not being here right now,” Zucker told staffers on a phone call Thursday morning, according to The New York Times. “I’m going to stay and finish my current contract, which, as I said, will keep me here until the end of this year. At that point, I do expect to move on.”

 A CNN rep confirmed the news and provided a transcript of the call.

“I have some news to share and this time it's about me,” Zucker said according to the transcript. “I really hate that I have become the focus of some intrigue, and I hate it because we have so much more important news to cover. But I know that I have owed this organization an answer about my own future, and so it is time to put the speculation to rest. So here’s the deal: I am gonna stay at CNN through the end of this year.”

He added: “I am going to stay and finish my current contract – which, as I said, will keep me here until the end of this year. At that point, I do expect to move on. But that is almost a year from now. That’s a long time.” 

Zucker also heads WarnerMedia's Turner Sports unit.

“It’s great to have Jeff steering all things CNN in 2021, said WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar. "The impact that Jeff has had on CNN is remarkable under any definition. And I believe that 2021 is going to go down as a milestone year in CNN’s 40 year history given all that is planned. As I’ve said before, in my opinion the two best things to happen to CNN have been Ted Turner and Jeff Zucker.”

Also Read: WarnerMedia Restructures under Kilar; Greenblatt and Riley Out

The pandemic and presidential elections drove new ratings to record levels during 2020 and after Donald Trump was defeated, 

CNN had its best month ever in January, topping Fox for the first time in years amid the riot at the Capitol and the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

Zucker was named president of CNN Worldwide in 2013. He received criticism for giving Donald Trump a great deal of airtime leading up to and continuing during his presidential campaign.

Zucker was CEO of the NBCUniversal Television Group until Comcast acquired NBCU, when he was replaced by Steve Burke in 2010. 

AT NBCU Zucker was in charge when NBC tried to replace Tonight Show host Jay Leno with Conan O’Brien. He then gave Jay Leno a nightly hour of primetime on NBC. When that flopped, he returned Leno to the Tonight Show, dropping O’Brien.

Zucker started out at NBC as a researcher in for its Olympics coverage, but quickly became a wunderkind within its news division, quickly becoming the executive producer of the Tonight Show. In 2000 he became head of NBC Entertainment and as the network fell from its “must-see” TV dominance. He continued to be promoted at NBCU eventually becoming CEO.

Here is a transcript of what Zucker said at the beginning of his  call with CNN staffers Thursday  morning, as provided by CNN:

Before we get started this morning, I have some news to share and this time it's about me. 

I really hate that I have become the focus of some intrigue, and I hate it because we have so much more important news to cover. But I know that I have owed this organization an answer about my own future, and so it is time to put the speculation to rest.

So here’s the deal: I am gonna stay at CNN through the end of this year.

I cannot imagine not being here right now. I have this incredible seat in the very front row of history every day. I work with the best people in the business. As we have noted, multiple times, CNN has never been stronger -- and that is something I am incredibly proud of. We have come a very long way in the past eight years. We have challenges ahead, for sure - but we could not be better positioned to meet them. The future is bright with tremendous opportunity, and I want to put all the right pieces into place to make sure that CNN remains strong for many years to come. And, as we know, we have been doing our daily meetings this way for nearly a year. This organization has been thru a lot. I'd like to be here to get us all back to a new normal, one that feels much more like it once did around here. 

So, as a result, I am going to stay and finish my current contract – which, as I said, will keep me here until the end of this year. At that point, I do expect to move on. But that is almost a year from now. That’s a long time. Think back to how much has happened in the last year and how much we have accomplished together in the PAST year. So I'm not at all focused on the end -- I'm focused on the now. Today, next week, next month, the next three months, and beyond. 

Look, I do get it. Some of you will hear what I'm saying as an announcement that I am leaving. That is truly not the way I see it. The truth is, back in November and December, I had basically decided that it was time to move on now. But since then, I've had a change of heart. And I want to stay. Not forever, but for another year. And I feel really good about this decision.

My hope is that you will see this as good news, too, and focus on the fact that we get another year together.

So there you have it. Now we can get on with the business at hand. As I said, we've got a lot to do. And there is a lot going on.

So let’s begin with the most awkward transition ever on this 9 a.m. call, and start with Virginia.

With quite a bit of help from a polarizing president, Jeff Zucker has returned CNN to cable news’ ratings throne. 

But his contract is running out. And as Vanity Fair explains it, the CNN chief might be exiting before Joe Biden is sworn in as the 46th U.S. President on Jan. 20.

“Jason Kilar has no idea what’s about to walk out the door,” said one unnamed CNN staffer, addressing earlier Wall Street Journal reports about tension between WarnerMedia’s overlord, Kilar, and Zucker.

The CNN chief was reportedly unhappy about recent WarnerMedia restructuring that stripped Zucker’s oversight of financial, human resources and communications departments. In fact, it was reported that Zucker had less than a day’s notice the changes were occurring. 

Also read: WarnerMedia Begins Laying Off U.S. Staffers

The New York Times’ Ben Smith has chronicled Zucker’s rise at CNN, tying it back to when Zucker ran NBC and helped turn Donald Trump into a reality TV star with The Apprentice. According to Smith’s narrative, Zucker, through CNN, has tried to take down "the monster” he created at NBC.

But with Trump set to leave office, “that show may be ending,” Smith postulates. 

There are, however, reasons to believe Zucker and WarnerMedia might come to terms, as well. 

Corporately, CNN’s very opposition stance since 2016 has reaped ratings and ad dollars. According to media research group Kagan, CNN is set to generate around $773 million in revenue in 2020.

And seemingly, CNN won’t be the same corporate liability that it was a few years ago, when the cable news network was held up as a regulatory pawn in AT&T’s attempt to purchase the erstwhile Time Warner Inc. 

And there’s also, as Vanity Fair describes, the high morale of the CNN rank and file to consider. 

“People really love Jeff and they do not want to see him go,” a CNN journalist told the magazine “I think a lot of people will be devastated if he does leave the network, and are concerned that you won’t be able to find someone with his leadership style to fill that role.” 

The Cable Center named seven industry luminaries to its 2020 Cable Hall of Fame class, tapping a wide range of industry executives who will be feted at an April 30 red carpet event at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York.

The honorees were chosen for leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation in the cable industry. Since 1998, 140 individuals have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“The 2020 Cable Hall of Fame class represents every facet of our industry,” Michael Willner, Penthera CEO and chairman of The Cable Center’s board of directors, said in a statement. “They have helped to change the entertainment world we now live in and continue to create new and innovative video consumption models.”

The 2020 class members are:

Bridget Baker, CEO, Baker Media, and co-founder of CNBC

Jim Blackley, adviser to the CEO and former EVP of IT and engineering, Charter Communications;

Cathy Hughes, founder and chairwoman, Urban One;

Alfred C. Liggins III, CEO of Urban One and chairman and CEO of TV One;

Jeff Marcus, Cable pioneer and founder of Marcus Cable;

Dave Watson, president and CEO, Comcast Cable;

Jeff Zucker, chairman WarnerMedia News & Sports, and president, CNN Worldwide.

“Our industry would not be the same without the significant contributions of the 2020 Cable Hall of Fame honorees,” The Cable Center CEO Jana Henthorn said in a statement. “What an honor it will be to recognize them at our Cable Hall of Fame celebration on April 30.”

In addition to the class of 2020, the ceremony will also recognize this year’s winner of the Bresnan Ethics in Business Award, who had yet to be announced at press time.

Profiles were written by Erica Stull.

For more information on the celebration, visit cablehalloffame.com.

Recently named WarnerMedia news and sports chairman Jeff Zucker said Tuesday that Turner Sports is in "terrific" shape and that he views both news and sports as similar with regards to his programming approach.

“I think news and sports are very much the same in the sense that they’re both about human beings and drama and stories,” Zucker, who oversees CNN, told reporters attending CBS and Turner’s annual NCAA 'March Madness' college basketball tournament press breakfast. “I’ve personally gone back and forth between the two, and I think that’s why I’ve always tried to bring the same approach to both. It’s about telling a great story.”

Zucker, who was named to the new post last week amid the recent departures of Turner president David Levy — who previously oversaw Turner Sports — and HBO chairman Richard Plepler, said that Turner Sports is well positioned with its combination of strong linear cable network outlets such as TNT and TBS, marquee sports packages including deals with the NBA and Major League Baseball, and its digital streaming presence with Bleacher Report Live.

Related: WarnerMedia Plots OTT Plan Amid Departures 

“It's the combination of the three that will continue to be the strategy, and we want to make sure we’re playing in all three [areas].” he added.

Zucker also wouldn’t rule out partnering with CBS to go after more high-profile league sports packages in the future, something that CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus also endorsed.

“We partnered with Turner on the PGA championship for a number of years and that worked out really well,” McManus told reporters. “We’re open to doing partnerships if it makes sense for both partners. There’s nothing specific on the books, but I could see us teaming with Turner on other properties.”

Zucker, who said he launched his television career working as a producer on NBC’s 1988 Olympics coverage, said that he sees additional growth for Turner Sports in new, emerging sports that will require some business development. “The combination of the linear channels as well as Bleacher Report Live gives us the opportunity to foster growth there,” he said. 

CNN president Jeff Zucker criticized President Trump's statements regarding suspicious packages sent to the network's New York offices as well as to several top Democratic politicians on Wednesday.

In a Wednesday afternoon Tweet, Zucker said that President Trump and White House Secretary Sarah Saunders had a "complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media."

RELATED: CNN, Time Warner Center Evacuated 

Zucker's tweet was posted after Trump called "abhorrent" suspected bomb packages sent to CNN's New York offices as well as to political figures including Bill and Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, democratic donor George Soros, and Congresswomen Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Maxine Waters. "We have to come together and send one, very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America," Trump said. 

Trump however, never mentioned CNN --which he has criticized often during his Presidency -- in his remarks.  

Earlier in the day, the White House, Vice President Mike Pence and several other politicians released statements condemning the suspected attacks. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/CNNPR/status/1055183653351972864[/embed]

The series premiere of Kevin (Probably) Saves the World goes down on ABC on Tuesday (Oct. 3), and showrunners Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas say the drama has something you don’t see much of in TV series: Hopefulness. They note how TV news, amidst the hurricanes wreaking their havoc, is full of stories about people helping each other. But Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, about a self-absorbed guy who’s visited by a celestial being and learns to put others first, suggests people can pitch in outside of cataclysmic events.

“You can be helpful in people’s lives on a daily basis,” Butters said. “You don’t have to wait for a hurricane to hit.”

Jason Ritter, son of the late John Ritter, plays Kevin. He believes people are more inclined to act favorably when they’re being watched. “Whether or not you think that there’s a god or you think you’re possibly on some kind of candid prank TV show,” he said, “if you think someone is watching, you may act differently.”

It’s also a new season of Once Upon a Time, which is going through something of a makeover as the show shifts from Storybrooke to Seattle. It starts on ABC on Friday (Oct. 6). New to the cast is Gabrielle Anwar, who we enjoyed as Michael’s fetching explosives ace on Burn Notice. Anwar said she was drawn to Once Upon a Time because her 13-year-old daughter is obsessed with the series.

“I was called by my agent, and my daughter happened to be standing beside me,” said Anwar. “She heard the name of the show and starting saying, ‘Hook! Hook!’ over and over again.”

(Colin O’Donoghue plays Captain Hook on Once.)

Anwar’s 23-year-old daughter also has fallen for the show. “I’m sort of cornered,” Anwar said. “I may be here for the rest of my life.”

And Jeff Zucker sounds as though he’d be happy atop CNN for the rest of his life. Last week was the Giants of Broadcasting lunch, which saw the induction of Zucker, CNN president; Jeff Fager, 60 Minutes executive producer; and Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent, among others. Also inducted was Barbara Eden, star of I Dream of Jeannie.

Zucker used most of his speech to say CNN was unbowed by the pushback it’s gotten from the White House. The network will continue to “hold the administration’s feet to the fire,” he said.

He quipped that he showed up for the luncheon at Gotham Hall in Manhattan to see Eden. He noted how he was born in 1965, the same year I Dream of Jeannie went on the air.

“I’m not afraid to admit I spent my entire childhood dreaming of Jeannie,” Zucker said.

Viewers could not get enough of TV news during the 2016 presidential election, spelling a windfall for the top news outlets. Needless to say, Donald Trump’s move to the White House has helped keep the ratings robust. Viewers look to the journalists they most respect to assess our nation’s new leadership and the sizzling issues that divide us, and to break down the latest developments in a coherent, and appealing, manner.

We spotlight 10 of the most influential figures in TV news today. Whether they’re network brass or on-air talent, on broadcast or cable, or focused on morning or evening news, we highlight who is making the most of their perch in the news game, and leaving the largest mark on the industry. Among the top anchors, one thing becomes clear: The stoic demeanor that has long defined the role is anything but required.

Who is most masterfully using newer media platforms? Who is doing the best job of tackling Trump? Who is leaving the concept of fake news far, far behind?

Our top TV news players make a case for the answers.

Related > It’s All Business Leading a Net on a Roll: Q&A With FBN's Brian Jones

JOHN DICKERSON
CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent; Host, Face the Nation

Dickerson had a tough act to follow when he succeeded Bob Schieffer as Face the Nation host two years ago. But he has done a bang-up job, with an expert’s knowledge of the hot political issues, and a knack for knocking power players off their script with incisive questions.

“He stepped into giant shoes, and I think he filled them well,” former CBS News president Andrew Heyward said.

Dickerson put in a dozen years covering politics at Time, and then did a memorable stint at Slate.com before joining CBS News in 2009, decades after his mother was a producer there.

He has displayed a knack for maneuvering deftly on the newer platforms, hosting the podcast Whistlestop, which chronicles great moments in presidential history; running a lively blog on Tumblr; and amassing 2.17 million Twitter followers.

Dickerson showed his interviewing mettle when he pushed President Donald Trump in April on comments made about President Barack Obama tapping his phone. Trump ended up walking out during the questioning. “How delicious it is to see Trump’s protestations about ‘fake news’ come straight back in his face,” Erik Wemple said in The Washington Post. — Michael Malone

RACHEL MADDOWHost, The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC

MSNBC topped CNN in primetime among viewers 25-54 in the second quarter, and much of the credit for the major momentum goes to Maddow. The onetime Air America Radio host is now very much a full-blown TV star, averaging 2.5 million total viewers in the second quarter in her 9 p.m. slot, and emerging as a voice of reason in the key younger demo.

The Rachel Maddow Show premiered in 2008 and found its voice during the Obama administration. When Trump took over the presidency, Maddow and Co. were ready to rock. NBC News chairman Andrew Lack set out to remake MSNBC as a nonpartisan news channel, but it is liberal personalities, such as Maddow, that define the network. Her steely focus on the administration’s missteps, including its connection with Russia, is music to the ears of many Americans who disapprove of the president.

Fellow MSNBC host Chris Hayes, speaking in Rolling Stone, referred to Rhodes scholar Maddow as “a master of the medium,” with a knack for smart storytelling and a tireless work rate. — MM

ROLAND MARTIN
Anchor, NewsOne Now, TV One

Roland Martin is unapologetic about delivering breaking news and top issues of the day from an African-American perspective — one that is often ignored by mainstream cable channels — on his four-year-old, one-hour TV One morning news show, NewsOne Now.

From topics such as health care to issues relating to gun violence, the former CNN on-air reporter and the recipient of the 2013 Journalist of the Year award from the National Association of Black Journalists continues to provide African-American viewers with a forum to discuss and examine how such issues affect their lives. As a result, 2016 was NewsOne Now’s most-watched year ever.

Martin’s powerful voice on such issues has led TV One to expand NewsOne Now to two hours beginning this fall. “Since we launched the show, our audience has been clamoring for more coverage of the issues they wanted to talk about from their own perspective, so the extra hour gives us more opportunities to do more news or to go deeper into stories,” Martin said this past April during the network’s upfront presentation. — R. Thomas Umstead

JORGE RAMOS
Anchor, Noticiero Univision; Host, Al Punto

Ramos is a man for all platforms. He has been Univision’s Noticiero anchor since 1986, writes a weekly column for a variety of newspapers and provides daily radio commentary on Radio Univision. He is also host of the weekly public-affairs show Al Punto and the young adult Englishlanguage newscast America With Jorge Ramos on Fusion.

The Hispanic community sees Ramos as more than a journalist; he is also viewed as an advocate for their most heartfelt issues. When Ramos was ejected from a Donald Trump press conference in August 2015 after posing a question about immigration, many viewers felt they were being booted out, too.

Like his viewers, Ramos sees immigration as more than a political issue. “This is personal,” Ramos told CNN after his ejection. “When he’s talking about immigrants, he’s talking about me.”

Ramos, a Mexican-American, delivers the evening news with Maria Elena Salinas. In 2015, he made the list of Time’s 100 Most Influential People. Said Christiane Amanpour in Time: “He knows he has a voice and is not afraid to use it. He shouts from every rooftop that Hispanic rights are human rights.” — MM

ROBIN ROBERTS
Co-Anchor, Good Morning America, ABC

Roberts has been a rock in morning news, and the most vital element in GMA’s total-viewers winning streak. And while NBC’s Today retains the 25-54 title, GMA this past spring seized the Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Morning Show.

Roberts has been co-anchor since 2005. Viewers respond to her genuine nature, and she’s responsible for the upbeat mood that dominates the set; absent is the wall between talent and crew one finds at other network programs. Roberts’s effusive demeanor is also essential to the chatty roundtable GMA uses to present the news.

She is, in short, “America’s broadcasting sweetheart,” said The New York Times.

If that seems like a lofty title for a morning news anchor, look at the news revenue figures. Morning news rang up $836.5 million in 2016 revenue, said Pew Research Center, nearly double evening news’s $420.9 million.

The GMA host isn’t limited to mornings. Roberts’s “intimate conversations” podcast, “Everybody’s Got Something,” recently returned for season two. Her Rock’n Robin Productions produced the ABC specials Game Changers and Thank You, America, among others. — MM

CHRISTOPHER RUDDY
CEO, Newsmax

Hundreds of journalists cover the day-to-day machinations of President Trump, but few if any have the inside access to him that Ruddy does. The 52-year-old CEO of the conservative-leaning Newsmax media juggernaut arguably makes as much news as he breaks via his website, newsletter and cable news channel.

Dubbed the “Trump whisperer” by The Washington Post, Ruddy is not shy about touting his longtime friendship with the president. In early June — hours after being seen leaving the White House — Ruddy was quoted by the mainstream press as saying that Trump was considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

Ruddy also made headlines two weeks ago, speaking out against Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed merger with Tribune Media, telling Multichannel News that Trump himself “warned about the concentration of media power.” Ruddy is an “outsider who has insider access and, more importantly, is willing to share it,” CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter said in a June 13 column. — RTU

SUZANNE SCOTT
President, Programming & Development, Fox News Channel

It has been a brutal year at Fox News Channel, starting with Roger Ailes’s resignation, and including star host Bill O’Reilly’s departure in April and co-president Bill Shine’s in May. But the Murdochs have said they are determined to change its culture, and Scott is well-positioned to leave a lasting mark.

A 20-plus-year veteran of Fox News, she was named executive vice president of programming last summer and president of programming in May. Scott has her work cut out for her in winning over skeptical staff. She is named in multiple lawsuits against Fox News leadership, and was seen by many as a loyal deputy to Shine and to Ailes. Ailes biographer Gabriel Sherman said Scott was responsible for enforcing his dress code — miniskirts — for female talent. Fox News says Sherman is incorrect in his reporting about Scott being involved with a dress code policy.

Still, Scott is in a key position to remake the place in a less controversial public image. She moved Tucker Carlson Tonight from 9 p.m. to O’Reilly’s former slot at 8 p.m. and debuted the freewheeling Fox News Specialists in May. And with FNC retaining ratings gusto despite the loss of key players, she’s off to a promising start. — MM

JAKE TAPPER
Chief Washington Correspondent, CNN; Host, The Lead and State of the Union

Tapper earned a lofty description from an admiring The Washington Post earlier this year: “The conscience of cable news,” the paper wrote, giving him points for bluntly calling out President Trump for “falsehoods and other strange conduct.”

Indeed, the host of weekday show The Lead and Sunday series State of the Union readily reports on the at-times funky facts emerging from the White House. Upon accepting the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Tribute Award last month (his mother is Canadian), Tapper said he became a journalist “to hold people in power accountable, to try to tell stories other journalists weren’t telling and to try to have serious discussions about the way policies impact people’s lives.”

He’ll get another award in September, when the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) gives him its John F. Hogan Distinguished Service Award for standout journalism. But the year’s highlight for Tapper, a cartoonist before the journalism kicked in, may have been when he was asked to lend those talents to the Mad magazine book MAD About Trump.

Deborah Jaramillo, director of the graduate film and television studies program at Boston University, and author of the cable news book Ugly War, Pretty Package, said Tapper’s facial expressions on-air say almost as much as his questions. “It’s interesting that he lets his frustrations show,” she said. — MM

CHUCK TODDNBC News Political Director; Host of Meet the Press (NBC) and MTP Daily (MSNBC)

U.S. politics has no larger TV figure than Chuck Todd. Thanks to Todd’s political expertise, NBC easily topped its broadcast brethren in Election Night ratings. “He knows what’s going on inside the Beltway,” news analyst Andrew Tyndall said.

Todd took on the Meet the Press host role from David Gregory in 2014 — the show had fallen into last place — and reviews focused on his straight-talking perspective, which multiple critics said reminded them of the legendary Tim Russert. The New York Times said, “Todd may still be the substitute teacher, but he looks like he could quickly master the class.”

Tyndall suggested Todd has done so, calling him “the political scientist” among the Sunday morning hosts.

Todd is not above showing his frustration with a guest when the situation allows, Jaramillo noted. That makes him “a champion for a lot of people who feel they’re under threat,” she said. — MM

JEFF ZUCKER
President, CNN Worldwide

With the country so divided along political lines, it’s a boon for Fox News Channel and MSNBC and their ideologically driven primetime programming. Yet Zucker sees the split as an opportunity for CNN. He told The New York Times that CNN viewers are akin to undecided voters, which President Trump is looking to “sway” because they’re not watching Fox News or MSNBC.

Zucker also told the Times that CNN is on track to earn more than $1 billion in profit this year. “He’s on a roll,” news analyst Andrew Tyndall said. “He’s the king of all cable news at the moment.”

Zucker has focused CNN on Trump ever since the Donald took that fateful glide down the Trump Tower escalator two years ago. The president’s disdain for CNN grows every day, and the network’s missteps, including the resignations of three journos after a faulty story about a Trump ally, only gave him more ammunition. But those setbacks have the hyper-competitive Zucker even more motivated to focus his 3,500 staffers on doing a standout job.

Tyndall said CNN has joined The Washington Post and The New York Times as “central players” in vital Trump news. — MM

This story was updated on July 31 to include a Fox News rebuttal.

A survey conducted by CNN has found that its reputation has not been hurt by President Trump's accusations of "fake news," CNN CEO Jeff Zucker said.

Zucker said he had been concerned that the drum beat from the White House was tarnishing the cable news network's brand and he commissioned one of the network's biggest studies ever.

Related: Trump calls CNN 'Fake News'

"We are still incredibly trusted," Zucker said. "There is no impact whatsoever from all these attacks on the CNN brand."

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

CNN continues to remake the executive ranks for its morning programming block, promoting Jim Murphy to vice president of morning programming.

The appointment of Murphy, who was senior executive producer of the news network’s New Day morning show, was announced Wednesday by CNN president Jeff Zucker during a morning editorial meeting.

Prior to CNN, Murphy was senior executive producer of ABC’s Good Morning America from 2006-11.

Murphy’s promotion follows the appointment last month of Javier Morgado to executive producer of New Day. Also Ted Winner was named senior broadcast producer for New Day and will move from Atlanta to New York.