Licht's gone. CNN's problems are not.

Nov 02, 2023

By ELI STOKOLS and LAUREN EGAN

06/07/2023 05:52 PM EDT

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The firing of CNN boss CHRIS LICHT Tuesday marked a stunning and abrupt end to a disastrous 13-month tenure. But while it was clearly the product of some questionable choices Licht himself made (more on those later), it also marked the biggest casualty to date of a problem hampering much of the media: How to balance the coverage of the last two White House occupants, DONALD TRUMP and JOE BIDEN?

In a way, Licht, like Biden, sought to steer us back to a more traditional time — an era where politics could be covered with a down-the-middle, unemotional approach; where the White House wasn't the central stage around which all of cable turned.

He took KAITLAN COLLINS — his chief White House correspondent and the network's biggest rising star — off the Biden beat to co-anchor a morning show that dissolved quickly (she's since moved to primetime); pushed to tamp down the critical Trump coverage by issuing new editorial directives; let go of some of the network's most prominent Trump-critical voices; and put the former president on a high-profile town hall.

The moves may have been driven by certain realities: Biden is comparatively boring — and intentionally so, delivering on a campaign promise to return the presidency from daily reality TV antics to a more traditional, process-heavy and predictable mode of operations. Conservatives had lost faith in CNN. Costs had to be cut.

But whatever its merits in theory, Licht's approach often seemed misaligned with an America marked by increasingly sectarian political divisions, continued democratic backsliding, a fast eroding trust in news and a cable news audience that's getting information elsewhere.

Sure enough, his efforts to tamp down the endless cycle of cable news outrage we all endured for four years ended up generating outrage anyway — it just came from within his own newsroom and from CNN's broader audience, many of whom have vociferously tweeted their frustrations over the Trump platforming, the downplaying of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and Licht's general nonchalance to their concerns.

Those viewers may prefer watching MSNBC, where — at least at certain hours of the day — the Trump dramas continue to animate perpetually alarmed hosts and panelists.

But MSNBC's ratings are also not what they were when Trump was actually president. While it's not helping the news business, Biden has largely delivered on his campaign promise to return the presidency from daily reality TV antics to a more predictable mode of operations. While he's far less accessible than Trump, who needs the media's attention like the rest of us do oxygen, the president has also found that cable networks often wouldn't cover his public events live — a reason why Biden has done fewer evening events in his second and third years, an administration official told West Wing Playbook.

Fox News, like its cable competitors, hasn't quite figured out what to do with Biden in the White House and Trump trying to get back there. The current president, as conservatives often concede, is a poor boogeyman for them: producing relatively dull story lines and seemingly always off-camera. The ex-president, meanwhile, has occasionally been too hot to touch — his election denialism leading the network into a massive defamation lawsuit. There is now open friction between Trump and the Murdochs, with the former accusing the latter of being in the tank for his opponent, Gov. RON DESANTIS.

If any cable channel appears to have figured out how to gain ground in the current climate, it's Newsmax. The long fledgling, more conspiracy-addled stepchild to Fox News, seems to have adopted the mantra that former CBS boss LES MOONVES infamously noted in 2016: Trump "may not be good for America, but [was] damn good" for ratings. Indeed, Newsmax has grown an audience within the GOP base, reaching viewer levels near CNN's.

Those boffo ratings that come from platforming and reacting to every Trump utterance, however, can and often have obscured the broader trend already underway in media. Consumers are shifting from the linear news coverage long found in newspapers and on cable to social media, streaming and other more personalized platforms.

That trend was what Licht, with great hubris, believed he knew how to solve. It's likely why he agreed to sit down with TIM ALBERTA for a devastating profile (published last week) featuring him ranting about his predecessor while side planking, giving more attention to student journalists than he seemed to have for rank and file CNN employees, refusing to take any blame for a string of misbegotten programming and managerial decisions and, ultimately, laughing at his own boss constantly blowing up his cell phone.

But, ultimately, he didn't have the answers.

No one really does.

It's a conundrum for interim CEO AMY ENTELLIS and whomever Warner Bros. Discovery chief DAVID ZASLAV chooses as a successor: Can news be dispassionate in an emotional, partisan era? Can networks re-establish trust that transcends political divides? How do you rationalize platforming Trump? Then again, how do you not?

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This one is from Allie. Under which presidency was the White House's original indoor swimming pool built?

(Answer at bottom.)

A NEW PATH OPENS UP FOR ONE BIDEN OPERATIVE: Anointed as one of the Democratic Party's rising stars a decade ago, former state senator MIKE JOHNSTON finally hit electoral paydirt Tuesday night, decisively winning a mayoral runoff in Denver to take the reins from three-term Mayor MICHAEL HANCOCK later this summer.

The win put a feather in the cap of Biden 2020 campaign alum JENNIFER RIDDER. The Precision Strategies operative and Denver native was a close Johnston adviser over the election's final months.

Ridder has also been in conversations with top White House officials about a role on the president's re-elect. But with Biden having tapped JULIE RODRIGUEZ and QUENTIN FULKS for the two top campaign roles, there is some growing chatter that she could opt to stay in Colorado and take a top job inside Johnston's city hall, possibly even as his chief of staff.

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: This take from NYT's MATTHEW YGLESIAS about how Biden "understands something fundamental about congressional politics that's frustrating to journalists, activists and political junkies: It's often better to just shut up. In many ways he embodies what is an unusual model of the presidency in our media age. Rather than seek out and suck up the country's attention at every possible turn, he recognizes and embraces the limited tools of his office within our constitutional system — and is all the more effective for it."

WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: This USA Today opinion piece by PETER FUNT about how Sen. DIANNE FEINSTEIN's refusal to retire could hurt the president's reelection campaign: "Watching the frail California stalwart who, at 89, recently resumed her Senate duties after a lengthy recuperation from shingles and other medical complications, Americans see what can happen when a powerful elected official stays in office too long and refuses to step down. Yes, Feinstein is three years older than Biden would be at the end of his second term, but their respective ages are close enough to cause legitimate concern — and damaging publicity."

STOLTENBERG INBOUND: NATO Secretary General JENS STOLTENBERG will visit the White House on Monday to meet with Biden, press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE announced Wednesday. It's unclear if the visit, a chance to discuss issues ahead of next month's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, will be Stoltenberg's last trip to Washington in his current role. As speculation swirls about his possible replacements or whether he might extend his tenure beyond October when his term expires, the White House has had little to say beyond complementing Stoltenberg for the job he's done.

MORE WHCA ELECTION INTRIGUE: We wrote earlier this week about the contested election to serve as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association. Now another race has gotten competitive. The Daily Mail's EMILY GOODIN had been the only person running to represent print outlets on the board, but that changed Wednesday when the LAT's COURTNEY SUBRAMANIAN announced a bid. Get ready for even more campaign posters around the briefing room.

SPOTTED AT (WHERE ELSE?) TATTE: Treasury's MEGAN BATES-APPER and JENNA VALLE-RIESTRA, White House photographer LAWRENCE JACKSON, CBS News’ ED O’KEEFE (he ordered a lamb pita because "it's my cheat day") and GABY AKE, AP's AAMER MADHANI (joining the daily White House team call from the patio), ABC News’ BEN GITTLESON, the Washington Post's TYLER PAGER and NYT's KATIE ROGERS. Sorry if we missed you. We’re contemplating just leaving a sign-in sheet on the counter…

IT’S URGENT: White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Director RAHUL GUPTA warned that 165,000 lives could be lost a year to the opioid crisis by 2025 if the government doesn't intervene — a 55,000 increase in the number of overdose deaths last year, our KELLY HOOPER reports. "There is almost no other area today, where it affects our public health, national security and economic prosperity, than the opioid crisis," Gupta said at POLITICO's Health Care Summit.

WHAT TIMING: Securities and Exchange Commission chair GARY GENSLER announced this week lawsuits against two major digital currency exchanges, Binance and Coinbase. The announcements came as House Republicans had planned to hold a hearing about crypto to highlight legislation that aims to overhaul rules by reining in the SEC. The move tramples over House Republicans’ roll out of the legislation, our ZACHARY WARMBRODT, ELEANOR MUELLER and DECLAN HARTY report. One of the authors of the legislation, Rep. FRENCH HILL (R-Ark.) said the timing "is an interesting coincidence."

PERSONNEL MOVES: ERIC GUTSHALL is now chief of staff for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the Department of Education, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. He most recently was executive director of the Pennsylvania State Public School Building Authority.

MEET THE MAN IN CHARGE OF CLEAN ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE: The Senate Wednesday voted 56-43 to confirm DAVID CRANE to serve as the undersecretary for infrastructure at the Energy Department, a new position focused on the administration's clean energy investments, our KELSEY TAMBORRINO reports for Pro subscribers.

BUT WAIT… THERE’S MORE: The president announced another round of judicial nominees Wednesday, including that would fill two district court vacancies in Louisiana — JERRY EDWARDS, JR., the first assistant US attorney in the Western District of Louisiana, and BRANDON SCOTT LONG, a former deputy chief of staff to FBI Director CHRIS WRAY. Our BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN has more.

U.S. Nears Deal to Produce GE Jet-Fighter Engine in India (WSJ's Rajesh Roy and Doug Cameron)

Putin labels dam attack ‘barbaric.’ The world says he orchestrated it. (POLITICO Europe's Ali Walker)

Top Congressional Black Caucus members are calling for the Biden administration to yank two judicial nominations. (POLITICO's Nicholas Wu)

GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGISTER HERE.

When White House deputy press secretary ANDREW BATES was a college student at North Carolina State University, he was considering dropping out for a gig at the Obama White House, according to his alma mater's newspaper, NC State News.

But it was DAN PFEIFFER, then the White House chief communications officer, that told him: "You gotta get your degree. It's important. We’ll find something for you when you graduate."

Bates took that advice and did, in fact, find himself back at the White House!

The White House's original indoor swimming pool was built during FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT's presidency in 1933.

According to the White House Historical Association, the pool opened "on June 2, 1933, after a campaign led by the New York Daily News to raise money for building a pool for Roosevelt, who suffered from poliomyelitis and often swam at therapy pools at his Hyde Park home in New York or at a rehabilitation center in Warm Springs, Georgia."

The pool was covered up, however, during RICHARD NIXON's presidency, after he built a press briefing room over it.

A CALL OUT — Do you think you have a harder trivia question? Send us your best one about the presidents with a citation and we may feature it.

Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misspelled the name of Dan Pfeiffer, former White House chief communications officer.