Thompson, who begins within the position on Oct. 9, involves CNN after a prolonged profession in media. He spent eight years as chief govt of the New York Instances Firm, the place he oversaw important development in digital subscription income, serving to to offset losses in print circulation and promoting. He stepped down from that position in 2020, after he stated that he “achieved every part I got down to do.”
Thompson had come to the Instances after spending practically his total profession on the BBC, the place he served as director normal.
Along with overseeing CNN’s technique, operations and enterprise items, he’ll function the community’s editor in chief, the corporate introduced on Wednesday.
“There isn’t a extra skilled, revered or succesful govt within the information enterprise at the moment than Mark, and we’re thrilled to have him be a part of our workforce and lead CNN Worldwide into the longer term,” Warner Bros. Discovery chief govt David Zaslav stated.
Zaslav known as Thompson “a real innovator who has reworked for the digital age two of the world’s most revered information organizations” and stated that “his strategic imaginative and prescient, monitor document in transformational management and sheer ardour for information make him a formidable power for CNN and journalism at this pivotal time.”
Zaslav had been equally glowing in his reward of Licht when he employed him within the February 2022 to take over for Jeff Zucker, a charismatic and fashionable president who had earned the loyalty of the community’s staffers earlier than being compelled out over an undisclosed romantic relationship with an in depth colleague.
However Licht by no means discovered his footing at CNN, the place he progressively misplaced the arrogance of workers after which company administration, who determined to take away him from his put up and put the community within the palms of 4 executives — Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling and David C. Leavy — till a brand new chief might be appointed. (These executives will proceed of their roles, however will now report back to Thompson.)
The breaking level had been a bruising profile within the Atlantic journal that had painted a portrait of an ineffective and out-of-touch chief. Licht had additionally confronted backlash, each internally and externally, after CNN hosted a city corridor with Donald Trump in Might that rapidly was a circus.
Zaslav had not carried out a proper search when appointing Licht and had interviewed no different candidates. This time round, Zaslav had promised CNN workers a prolonged search, which he stated in early June would take “months.” That search solely ended up taking about two and a half months.
Thompson has his work lower out for him at CNN, which has recently trailed each MSNBC and Fox Information in attracting viewers. In July, the community averaged 426,000 complete viewers all through the day, in comparison with 723,000 for MSNBC and greater than 1 million for Fox Information. In prime time, CNN averaged solely 534,000, lower than half of what MSNBC’s lineup introduced in.
However, the community is hoping {that a} new prime time lineup — set by CNN’s interim management workforce — will make a distinction.
The community can be placing extra emphasis on streaming programming. Considered one of Licht’s first tasks as chief govt was asserting the closure of CNN Plus, the corporate’s $100 million guess on streaming. That service was meant to be a life raft to a future through which the community now not received nearly all of its income from contracts with cable tv firms.
After greater than a yr within the streaming wilderness, the corporate final week introduced the late September launch of CNN Max, a devoted, 24-hour information hub on the Max streaming service, which encompasses tv content material from throughout the broader Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio of networks. The CNN Max service will supply new programming from CNN personalities like Jim Acosta and Jim Sciutto in addition to a stay broadcast of some reveals from the community’s common tv lineup.
At an business convention in November 2021, Thompson had expressed issues in regards to the potential of tv information networks in the USA to innovate and appeal to youthful audiences. “Information appears like a very old school fashion of broadcasting aimed completely at older audiences,” he said at the event. “I stay within the U.S. and [TV news] appears utterly unchanged because the Eighties. I feel it’s in lifeless hassle.”
Within the announcement on Wednesday, Thompson expressed his readiness to sort out the structural challenges dealing with each the community and the broader tv business.
“The world wants correct reliable information now greater than ever and we’ve by no means had extra methods of assembly that want at house and overseas,” he stated. “The place others see disruption, I see alternative.”
Thompson received the highest job on the BBC after working for many years as a journalist, starting as a manufacturing trainee in 1979. He helped the broadcaster transition to the digital world and forge new partnerships, and was requested to do one thing comparable when he turned chief govt of the Instances in 2012. The newspaper publication was struggling to transition past print and had recorded a web lack of $88 million for the second quarter of 2012. By the tip of the fiscal yr, the newspaper had 640,000 digital-only subscribers; however, by the middle point of 2020, the Instances had 5.67 million.
Upon his departure, Instances writer A.G. Sulzberger credited Thompson with guiding that “digital transformation.”
Jonathan Klein, the previous president of CNN U.S., known as Thompson “an distinctive selection” with the abilities to maneuver CNN right into a future extra outlined by direct-to-consumer subscriptions and new platforms than conventional tv.
“He’s not a tv programming wizard. He’s a really substantial, achieved steward of robust journalistic manufacturers,” Klein stated. “In the event that they’re trying to restore the model, they’ve undoubtedly began in the correct place.”
This story has been up to date.
