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Tags: chris licht | jeff zucker | cnn | news | ceo | warnermedia

Discovery Taps New CNN Chief, Made Career Blasting Republicans

chris licht holds a mic while seated on stage during a media forum
Chris Licht (Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images)

By    |   Saturday, 26 February 2022 07:06 PM EST

Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav has reportedly zeroed in on the replacement for former CNN President Jeff Zucker, and it will be Chris Licht, as first reported by Puck News' Dylan Byers.

Licht's hiring was expected to come at a special Discovery shareholders meeting March 11, but CNN is expected to make the announcement next week, according to CNN's Brian Stelter.

Licht has been CBS's executive vice president of special programming and the executive producer of "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" since 2016. He was also the co-creator and original executive producer of MSNBC's Morning Joe.

Those shows shows have been extremely hostile of former President Donald Trump and Republicans.

At the start of the pandemic March 19, 2020, Licht tweeted praise for disgraced New York Democrat Gov. Andrew Cuomo:

"I'm finding @NYGovCuomo press availability the most soothing part of my day."

Licht will run CNN as head of news for Warner Bros. Discovery, and Licht has a deal with CBS that expires in April, a source told Byers.

"Licht may not be Zucker, but he is undeniably the wunderkind producer of his generation with an ability to win over talent and see value where others don't," Byers' wrote.

"Hiring an outsider, too, may help recalibrate the network toward its centrist origins," Byers' report concluded. "It will also certainly represent to the talent inside CNN that a new sheriff is in town."

Eric Mack

Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav has reportedly zeroed in on the replacement for former CNN President Jeff Zucker, and it will be Chris Licht, as first reported by Puck News' Dylan Byers.
chris licht, jeff zucker, cnn, news, ceo, warnermedia
234
2022-06-26
Saturday, 26 February 2022 07:06 PM
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