In June of this year, CNN’s new boss, Chris Licht, told employees that there were no impending layoffs coming to the network. Apparently, that was just more fake news from the failing network.
At a CNN town hall with employees on Tuesday, Licht shared that the network is facing layoffs as early as December.
Licht reportedly said teams that are not deemed essential to the network’s ‘core mission’ were on the chopping block. After all, how many teams does it take to smear President Trump and his supporters, as that seems to be the “core mission”.
CNN has already made staffing changes over the last six months that have left employees anxious.
Media reporter, Brian Stelter, was let go, and Don Lemon was demoted from his primetime slot to a morning show.
CNN”s ratings are in free fall and the much-hyped CNN+ streaming service went belly up less than a month after launch and after hemorrhaging $100 million dollars.
Radical black supremacist, Tiffany Cross, was fired from MSNBC after years of labeling the entire white race bigoted, evil and even dangerous and promoting genocide of white people on her show.
With layoffs underway at major networks and social media platforms, Democrats are losing their most loyal cheerleaders.
A CNN insider told Fox News Digital that the mood at the company is anxious. At the town hall, Licht was essentially asked how he could be trusted again after telling employees there were no impending layoffs coming to the network, back in June.
More from Fox News:
CNN CEO Chris Licht faced questions from tense employees Tuesday as the company prepares to make cost-cutting layoffs by early December.
At a town hall moderated by CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota, Licht addressed questions about his own credibility – since he’d signaled this past summer that layoffs weren’t happening – the future of CNN’s primetime programming, and even how the network would cover a hypothetical Donald Trump presidential run that could launch as early as Tuesday night.
A CNN insider told Fox News Digital that the mood at the company is anxious, adding that Licht didn’t get into specifics about who would get laid off but did say that aspects of CNN not central to its “core mission” were on the chopping block.
“There are huge nerves about that,” the insider said. “It wasn’t clear from that town hall who they’re going to fire. We’re waiting for answers on that.”
The global media company has a large digital and television footprint that could see cuts in the coming weeks, and under Licht it’s already scaled back its original programming and documentaries. CNN has also continued to languish in the ratings under the former “Late Show” showrunner’s time at the helm.
The layoffs, Licht said, will be done by early December. It’s a long way from what he said in June, according to Puck’s Dylan Byers, when he remarked at a staff-wide event, “As it relates to CNN, there are no layoffs per se. A layoff is a downsizing, where you are given a target, and that is not happening at CNN.” Now, according to Byers, he’s been tasked by his boss David Zaslav to make another $100 million in cuts to CNN’s budget as part of a wider money-saving effort by parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
A CNN spokesman told Fox News Digital Licht also noted in June that there was going to be an assessment of which resources should go where at CNN and there could be “some changes there,” but layoffs were not seen as on the table at that moment.
While Licht wouldn’t get into specifics, the insider said it was likely that the list of staffers to be let go has already been finalized. They also said that Licht was essentially asked how he could be trusted again by company workers; he was not apologetic about his earlier words about layoffs but did say he honestly felt that was accurate at the time.
However, last month, he wrote a company-wide memo warning of “unsettling” changes that will affect “people, budgets, and projects.”
