Jeff Zucker announces that he will be joining CNN at the end of the year

Jeff Zucker announces that he will be joining CNN at the end of the year

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According to co-workers, Zucker came very close to the exit, according to the co-workers, but decided to stay on. He told employees Thursday morning that he would stay with CNN’s parent, WarnerMedia, by the end of the year.

“The truth is, in November and December, I basically decided it’s time to move on,” Zucker said on the company’s daily editorial call. “But since then I’ve changed my heart. And I want to stay. Not forever, but another year. And I feel really good about this decision.”

Zucker oversees both CNN and the parent company’s sports assets as chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports.

Zucker’s timeline offers some short-term stability at CNN, where he’s widely regarded as a driving force.

And his decision has consequences far beyond internal politics, because CNN is one of the largest news providers in the world.

Zucker, a veteran of NBC, took over CNN in 2013. At the time, publications in the industry were filled with stories about CNN’s ‘identity crisis’, which was lost between Fox’s more popular program on the right and MSNBC’s programming on the left.

Zucker brought a producer’s brain, a nose for news and an eye for talent. Numerous stories describe his practical management and his support for confrontational interviews.

During the Trump years, CNN adopted the slogan ‘Facts first’, calling on the government’s weakness and gaining the trust of many viewers while alienating some Trump supporters. Zucker became a kind of boogeyman for Trump and, for the first time, of Fox, but even more evidence of his greater than life in the news industry.

After AT&T (T) Acquired by CNN and the rest of WarnerMedia in 2018, Zucker’s counterparts at other divisions of the media company were replaced or selected to leave. Sources occasionally describe tensions between Zucker and AT&T leadership. But the wireless giant also protected CNN’s autonomy and strongly defended the news brand amid Trump’s attacks.
Further changes were implemented when AT&T appointed Jason Kilar as leader of WarnerMedia last year. In October, The Information and The Wall Street Journal reported that Zucker could leave after the election, even though his contract continued until 2021.

“Zucker may be attracted to pursuing his other passions, which include politics and sports, say people who know him,” The Journal reported in a front-page story.

The stories sparked speculation and no small concern within CNN.

“In seven years, Zucker has become just as critical a part of CNN’s DNA as Ted Turner, the man who built the thing in the first place,” wrote Variety reporter Brian Steinberg.

The institution is obviously much larger than any individual – CNN has about 4,000 employees and one of the strongest news gathering operations on the planet. And Zucker is not immune to internal criticism. But overall, the outstretched organization was at its best when a strong leader gave the direction.

Kilar seems to admit it when he praised Zucker in interviews in December. “The two best things that ever happened to CNN were Ted Turner and Jeff Zucker,” Kilar said.

In October and November, Zucker was “pretty well planning to leave immediately after the inauguration,” a co-worker said.

“The industry is changing, our company is changing, so I have a lot to think about,” he told staff at the end of October.

News’ executive transitions are common at the end of the cycles of the presidential election. And it was perhaps tempting for Zucker to go upstairs, so to speak, since CNN no. 1 was in the cable news rating race, a rare withdrawal from Fox.

Eventually ‘he chose to stay because he likes his job’, the employee said.

“CNN has never been stronger, and that’s something I’m incredibly proud of,” Zucker said.

The Los Angeles Times, which announced the news of his decision, said: “Zucker currently has no plans beyond 2021. The opportunities are likely to become clearer as the pandemic subsides and business returns to normal.”

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