A top executive is set to leave CNN by the end of the year as the network continues to re-organize under CEO Chris Licht’s new regime.
CNN’s executive vice president of programming, Michael Bass is departing his role after more than a decade.
“I’m writing to let you know that Michael Bass has made the decision to leave CNN at the end of this year,” the memo said. “As head of domestic programming, Michael helped create a number of new shows and overhaul legacy programs. His full list of accomplishments is too great to acknowledge in a single memo. But on the heels of the midterms, it’s worth noting that he oversaw coverage of elections, town halls and debates.”
Bass, whose resume includes previous stints at CBS and NBC, is likely not the last high-profile employee to leave the network in the coming weeks. Last week, Licht revealed more layoffs are expected to come in early December.
Those who will be laid off will receive anywhere from a 60- to 90-day notice.
CNN’s new CEO has sent shockwaves through the network as he seeks to implement major changes from the top down. Numerous hosts, including Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter, have left the network while others like Don Lemon have seen their role within the company shift.
Many have speculated Licht plans to take CNN in a more moderate direction after years of hyper-partisan reporting, however, Licht says that is simply speculation.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about my vision is that I want to be vanilla, that I want to be centrist. That is bullshit,” Licht told the Financial Times this week. “You have to be compelling. You have to have edge. In many cases you take a side. Sometimes you just point out uncomfortable questions. But either way you don’t see it through a lens of left or right.”
“We are truth-tellers, focused on informing, not alarming our viewers,” Licht wrote in one of his earliest memos to CNN staffers this summer. “You’ve already seen far less of the “Breaking News” banner across our programming. The tenor of our voice holistically has to reflect that.”
Who do you think is next to leave? Tell us in the comments below!
Once the “Useful Idiots” of the left start questioning what has happened….they get dumped, destroyed or assassinated.
Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao – all practiced the same – and now it is Klaus Schwab swinging the AX starting with media and not a few “Billionaires”
I don’t watch these commie news stations but I wish you would include a picture of the person so maybe we would actually see and know who it is. Another one bites the dust.
Can’t answer your question, I don’t watch clinton news network
When journalism turns into partisan politics and only tells viewers what they want us to hear, it becomes useless and they will eventually fail. I’m old enough to remember from family members who escaped Germany that this is what happened there. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s story is becoming our story. So sad that we are letting it happen in America. Now we’re seeing those who disagree being targeted. We helped Germany, I wonder who will help us.
Hooray bust down CNN