David Zaslav wants to set CNN apart from ‘advocacy networks’
Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav wants CNN to focus on the facts and set itself apart from a cable-news industry that he says is monopolized by “advocacy networks.”
Zaslav, who took the helm of the new company this week, wasted no time laying out his vision for the media behemoth, which includes HBO, CNN, TLC, HGTV and movie studio Warner Bros. AT&aꦐmp;T spun off WarnerMedia in a $43 billion merger with D🧸iscovery, which closed last Friday.
In an hour-long interview Thursday with Oprah Winfrey at a theater on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Calif., Zaslav tackled questions about the future of CNN, as well as the company’s various streaming offerings and his $3 billion cost savings plan.
The CEO told Winfrey that CNN needs to be about reporting and truth and facts. “If we get that, we can have a civilized society,” he said. “And without it, if it all becomes advocacy, we don’t have a civilized society.”
CNN has been under a microscope for much of the year over its mishandling of high-profile scandals under former boss Jeff Zucker. Chief among them was Zucker’s handling of CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, whom he fired in December. The anchor was found to be secretly 🍸aiding the defense ♏;of his embattled older brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, over sexual h♏arassment allegations that resulted in his resignation.
Soon after, Zucker resigned in February, citing a romantic relationship with a colleague. The imbroglio caused an uproar among CNN staffers, who were angry about Zucker’s exit and the thought that Cuomo would get a massive severance package, despite breaking journalistic standards related to cove෴rag🀅e of his brother.
But even before that, billionaire media m🌼ogul John Malone — a close confidant of Zaslav — and a board member of the combined company, criticizedဣ CNN for its slanted coverage.
“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” Malone said last November. “I do believe good journalism could have a role in this future portfolio that Discovery-TimeWarner’s going to represent.”
Under Zucker’s successor, Chris Licht, an executive producer with stints at “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” CNN is expected to get an overhaul that includes more hard news and less opinion programming, sources told The Post.
This includes taking a closer look at the strategy behind the network’s new streaming service CNN+, as well as more broadly, taking a scalpel to redundancies at the media giant’s streaming services, such as HBO Max and Discovery+.
During Thursday’s meeting, Zaslav warned that staff reductions were likely as he continued to remove layers of management and combines jobs. As part of the CEO’s focus on cost savings, he reiterated his plans to combine both services.
“We don’t want to go to eight places. We want to go to one place, and we want to see everything we want to see,” Zaslav said consumers told Discovery at the time, according to. “When we put ℱit all together, we were much more successful.”
Hollywood insiders worried about that strategy as it could bury some of the media giant’s vast content. Others were more concerned that Zaslav would focus too much on cost-cutting, and wondered. if the CEO has the “stomach” to spend on big-budget films and TV shows to fuel company growth while in cost-cutting mode.
They said Zaslav may have sticker shock, as th🉐e budgets are much bigger in film than on reality TV, which makes up the bulk of Discovery’s bu꧅siness.
“He’s a very smart guy,” a studio exec told The Post last month, shrugging off that conc🧸ern. “I thꦰink he’s up to the task.”
