Media

CNN's Failing Brand

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: June 4, 2023 11:14 am

There are several possible reasons that CNN has become a failing brand. According to several media accounts, the best measure of the problem is its profitability, which dropped to $750 million last year and likely continues to fall. The number used to be over $1 billion. Its parent Warner Bros. Discovery has problems of its own, most of which are financial. Its once superstar CEO David Zaslav has his reputation on the line. Once considered among the most skilled media executives in the world, he seems to have lost his touch, mainly because of the CNN disaster.

CNN’s most recent brush with trouble was a town hall meeting featuring former President Donald Trump. He was never forced to answer a probing question, and this gave him a chance to use a network that has been hard on him, a forum to press his broadcast his views.

From the start, Chris Licht, CNN’s boss, has mishandled his management. He moved around the channel’s lineup. Not a single show has benefited based on ratings. It has been only so many deck chair moved around a lawn. Rumors have started to surface that he will be out as soon as later this month. A new CEO can rearrange the schedule again. That means another risk as CNN tries to recover. That means Zaslav has not good alternatives. And he needs one. Warner Bros. Discovery’s stock is off by over 33% in the last year.

Without creating too long a list, another yardstick by which CNN can be measured is that once weak MSNBC has taken the lead over CNN during many parts of the day. There is no reason that CNN is likely to overtake it.

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