Having ruined CNN, Zucker will move on

Jeff Zucker will end his 7-year erosion of CNN's credibility in December, as his contract with AT&T ends. 

The New York Times, using a secondhand account, said he told his staff, "I cannot imagine not being here right now. I’m going to stay and finish my current contract, which, as I said, will keep me here until the end of this year. At that point, I do expect to move on."

He leaves one step ahead of the repo man. CNN's financial fortunes are about to fold.

The Los Angeles Times said, "Zucker currently has no plans beyond 2021. Opportunities are likely to become clearer when the pandemic subsides and business returns to normal."

Yes, that pandemic panic has really hit multi-millionaires in Manhattan hard. The S&P 500 stock index rose only 16% last year.

The New York Times got to the heart of the financial problem. CNN now gets about $1 a month per cable customer, which exceeds its advertising revenue.

The newspaper said, "his departure comes amid questions of how CNN’s parent company, AT&T, will steer the cable news channel at a time when Americans increasingly don’t want to pay for cable and streaming services are still unprofitable."

No one wants to stream CNN.

And AT&T has clamped down on The Zuck, according to NYT.

It said, "Known as a micromanager, Mr. Zucker had tensions with Jason Kilar, the recently installed chief executive of WarnerMedia, AT&T’s news and entertainment arm. Last year, Mr. Kilar stripped Mr. Zucker of several responsibilities, including his oversight of the human resources and public relations teams."

Micromanager is a corporate euphemism for pest.

That AT&T gave Zucker a boss who clamped down on him shows that CNN's ratings success are a mirage. CNN came aboard at just the right time when the cable industry boom began. 

Making CNN a basic channel was good for marketing cable as high quality television. But like the History channel, Discovery, and The Learning Channel now TLC), CNN devolved into a ratings hysteria channel that ignored most of the news in favor of fomenting hate against the president.

The credibility gap at CNN began long before Zucker showed up. He just made it the Grand Canyon. 

As much as conservatives criticize the mainstream media -- and the criticism is justified -- the truth is we could use a reliable source of information that is available to everyone any time. CNN failed to deliver on its promise. We shall see if AT&T hires a serious person to save CNN. My guess is it will hire a liberal BIPOC token instead.