CNN Patches Primetime Lineup During Network Chaos, Scandal

Scandal-ridden CNN has patched its primetime lineup during network chaos by shifting Jake Tapper, Laura Coates, and Alisyn Camerota to new time slots.

In the latest move by CNN’s new chief Chris Licht, Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent, will replace former Chris Cuomo’s position at 9 p.m. amid a 31 percent viewership decline in the second quarter among viewers between 25 and 54, Variety reported Thursday.

In December, Chris Cuomo was fired from the network due to aiding his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, mitigate sexual harassment accusations. The former governor had also sent recovering coronavirus-infected patients to nursing homes during the rapid rise of infections and lockdowns in the Democrat state of New York. Controversially, Andrew was a regular guest on his brother’s network show during the pandemic.

The temporary patchwork will also include moving Coates and Camerota to cohost the 10 p.m. hour, replacing anchor Don Lemon, who was moved to the 6-9 a.m. morning show.

“I was not demoted,” Lemon claimed after the reassignment.

Licht’s new blend of establishment media figures “will showcase Jake’s tough reporting, smart analysis and consequential interviews as we ramp up our coverage of the midterms; and the insights, experience and strong voices of Alisyn and Laura will advance and expand on that coverage,” he told network staffers Thursday.

Licht took over management of the network after Jeff Zucker left in February upon being questioned about his relationship with longtime CNN executive Allison Gollust as part of the broader Andrew Cuomo investigation. Gollust left the network in February in the wake of Zucker’s resignation.

Zucker is widely credited for turning former President Trump from a reality TV star into a strong presidential contender. Zucker was the showrunner for NBC’s The Apprentice in 2004, making Trump a “household name,” the New York Times reported. Zucker was fired in 2010 from NBC and was hired by CNN in 2013.

Zucker’s management of CNN had been under stress before his departure in February. In December of 2021, Rick Saleeby, a former senior producer for CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper, resigned from his position while under questioning by Fairfax County’s Child Exploitation Squad. The department’s public affairs director said of the embarrassing incident:

The Fairfax County Police Department has launched an investigation into serious allegations involving potential juvenile victims. Detectives assigned to the Child Exploitation Squad of the Major Crimes Bureau are leading the investigation. While we will eventually be transparent about our findings, safeguarding the personal privacy and safety of victims and witnesses as well as maintaining the integrity of our criminal investigation are of paramount importance.

Months later, reports that CNN’s Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter would be fired at CNN came true. Stelter had claimed Hunter Biden’s authenticated “laptop” was “Russian disinformation.” Hunter’s laptop was verified as authentic by Breitbart News’s Emma-Jo Morris in the fall of 2020, 532 days before CNN admitted it was genuine.

Falling upwards, Stelter plans to teach media at Harvard University after his departure from the network.

The network’s turmoil has seemingly hurt it’s viewership and profitability. CNN’s primetime schedule in the second quarter saw viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 drop 31 percent, according to Nielsen. The said demographic is most coveted by advertisers because those viewers have the most disposable income. In comparison, MSNBC’s viewership dropped by 40 percent and Fox News’s only by 2 percent in the same category.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.