(RightIsRight.co) – Leftist TV network CNN has started mass layoffs of its staff and contributors in a bid by its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, to save billions of dollars.
CNN CEO Chris Licht started the previously announced layoffs on Wednesday morning.
Licht made it clear that paid contributors would be informed of their status later the same day, while full-time employees would learn on Thursday whether they still had jobs.
“It is incredibly hard to say goodbye to any one member of the CNN team, much less many. I recently described this process as a gut punch, because I know that is how it feels for all of us,” the CNN CEO wrote in his memo after warning about the upcoming layoffs at the end of October.
“It will be a difficult time for everyone… Let’s take care of each other this week,” added Licht, who took over in the spring after his predecessor, Jeff Zucker, resigned over a sex scandal.
For the time being, it is unknown how many of the some 4,000 CNN employees would be let go, The New York Post reported.
David Zaslav, the WarnerBros. Discovery CEO is seeking to cut $3 billion in expenses after the merger between the two companies. The corporation had about $55 billion in debt as of August.
Last month, Licht hosted a “tense” town hall meeting on his cost-cutting plan, which saw “huge nerves,” according to a CNN source.
The CNN chief dismissed claims that his superior Zaslav was dictating the changes in the TV network.
“I own the vision for this place. I did not take this job to take dictation from anybody,” Licht reportedly said.
Some of the steps he made saw the sacking of longtime host Brian Stelter and moving another host, Don Lemon, to co-anchor the network’s morning show.
“The reckoning has arrived at far-left CNN,” wrote Breitbart News author John Nolte in a commentary, which described Christ Licht as “CNN’s hapless new chief of lies.”
Nolte noted that while layoffs around Christmas were “a terrible thing to do,” “these people don’t believe in Christmas. They hate Christmas. They hate everyone who loves Christmas.”
“What did these serial-lying idiots expect? Did CNN honestly expect it could thrive after all this…” the commentator asked, referring to CNN’s collapsing ratings as he enumerated seventeen CNN cases of fake news hoaxes.
These include the “Russia Collusion Hoax,” the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot Hoax,” the “Rittenhouse Hoax,” and the “Border Agents Whipping Illegals Hoax.”
“These people, and the rest of the CNN staff, have no credibility. The brand is more than destroyed; it’s a national joke. The bottom has fallen out of the ratings, and nothing has changed under Licht,” Nolte wrote.
The Breitbart author emphasized that under its new CEO, CNN continued to “lie about conservatives” and “protect Democrats.”
Nolte concluded by saying he felt as bad about CNN staffers losing their jobs as they did when a coal miner lost his.
CNN's chief executive Chris Licht informed employees in an all-staff memo on Wednesday that layoffs are underway, according to a CNN reporter's tweet https://t.co/Ne7LoTMASh pic.twitter.com/2vUXFXtyF5
— Reuters (@Reuters) November 30, 2022
