It was the frequent target of President Trump’s attacks of “fake news,” but in terms of ratings, the network had a love-hate relationship with the blustery Republican.ĬNN’s popularity soared during the Trump presidency and crashed after he left office. “And I have no idea who they view as their target audience, or even if it has occurred to them to target a particular audience.”ĬNN became, for conservatives, a symbol of media bias during the Trump presidency.

Its ratings are in the toilet,” tweeted Vox senior correspondent Ian Millhiser. “I feel like Jeff Zucker has done an objectively terrible job of running CNN. Zucker’s nine-year run included a surprising number of prominent journalists not known for their right-of-center views. “There are probably going to be a lot of nervous people at CNN because Jeff is really the glue there,” Mr. Zucker’s departure and called him “the best boss we have ever had, one of the best things that has ever happened to CNN.” Zucker’s departure included several well-known CNN figures.Īnchor Alisyn Camerota described it as “an incredible loss,” and host Don Lemon said he was “devastated” by Mr. “We’re beyond a crisis of confidence in the media, and Jeff Zucker is not a minor character in all of this.” “It makes a cleaner slate for the new team to come in an decide what is the best way to optimize CNN and news overall.“It’s no accident that in Jeff Zucker’s nine-year tenure that CNN has become one of America’s most hated news organizations,” said Curtis Houck, managing editor of the conservative media watchdog NewsBusters. “This obviously makes it pretty clear that their future is more wide open,” said Moody’s senior vice president Neil Begley. But there was some hope at CNN that he would stay given a pending corporate merger that would put CNN under the umbrella of Discovery executive David Zaslav, known to be Zucker’s close friend. He had previously announced he was leaving amid reports of friction with Kilar. There had been uncertainty over Zucker’s future at CNN in recent years. It has Jeff Zucker’s hallmarks all over it.” “CNN is making up for a lot of lost time with the arrival of their streaming service … The vision of CNN+ is very much in question. “The timing of this departure is probably about as ill-timed as you can get,” for CNN+, said Tim Hanlon, CEO of media consultancy The Vertere Group. That service is expected to launch in March. The former president issued a statement crowing about his departure on Wednesday.Įxperts said Zucker’s resignation might affect the upcoming CNN+ streaming service, which has been making an aggressive effort to recruit big media names like Fox News’ Chris Wallace and NPR’s Audie Cornish. Yet in his presidency, Trump frequently called CNN “fake news” and criticized Zucker personally. That is his legacy,” tweeted media analyst Jeff Jarvis on Wednesday. “Zucker made Donald Trump a star, more than once. Ironically, Zucker had been criticized early in the 2016 election cycle when CNN gave extensive time to covering Trump’s rallies live. Particularly in prime time, CNN personalities have become much more likely to express their opinions on the air, and Zucker’s downfall was met with glee in some conservative circles. Like other news outlets, CNN has suffered in the the ratings following the end of the 2020 election, and has not yet named a replacement for Cuomo. He sharpened the network’s focus and, as a former producer, was often seen in the control rooms giving hands-on advice about running shows. The resignation was met with shock within CNN, where Zucker was generally well liked. Chris Cuomo is reportedly seeking a settlement from CNN, and speculation that Zucker and Gollust’s relationship might come up in those talks was raised when wrote a story about the two last month.Ĭuomo’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Cnn news anchor resigns