Chris Licht, the "brains" behind the Trump Townhall Fiasco is out in the wake of a ball-busting article on him in The Atlantic and widespread backlash against the Townhall which was seen by many as a free infomercial for Trump's lies. At a staff meeting Licht apologized to the staff for "becoming the news" and said he didn't recognize the guy in the article. The problem is that everyone else did. Interesting thought from WCCO radio host Jason DeRusha in a Linkedin post: -EGO CAN KILL: having an embedded reporter covering his leadership was ridiculous and endangered the organization. His team and their journalism should be the story in year one. Not Licht bad-mouthing his predecesor. -LEADING FROM WITHIN BEATS LEADING FROM ABOVE: having an office closer to the corporate bigwigs rather than the newsroom was more than a symbolic problem. - NEWSROOMS OFTEN CHEER AGAINST THEMSELVES: loyalty to the prior boss, a know-it-all view, activists rather than employees, it's a tough crowd. - LISTENING FIRST MATTERS: Coming in with a view is valuable, but Licht reportedly talked more than listened. - BEING SOCIALLY AWKWARD IS A PROBLEM: At dinners Licht would be engrossed in his phone instead of working the room. Obsessed with negative coverage about him. Focus on your people. - CAN JOURNALISM BE DOWN-THE-MIDDLE IN A NATIONAL CABLE ENVIRONMENT: I think Licht really believed that journalism could be done down-the-middle, it's a view I share as an old centrist guy. To many journalists who view the former President and parts of the right as dangerous to democracy, down-the-middle is just a different form of activism. To be sure, Licht wasn't wrong about everything, but his tenure is sure to become a textbook example of how not to go about implementing change in an established organization.
I tried to share it, but unlike the Washington Post and some other sites, apparently The Atlantic doesn't do gift articles.
As soon as I read The Atlantic article on Friday I knew he was toast. There was no way they'd keep him around after the double whammy of the disastrous town hall and then the article. I read a really good article yesterday (which, of course, I can't find today) that quoted several people at CNN as saying Licht "lost the room" or never had it in the first place. He sounds like a total douche. Having worked for bosses like Licht is described, fuck that guy. I have an inherent dislike for people who came into the business and then rose like he did.
Found the article: https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/me...kIT6+zIPmsBKOKi8BXTur6A==&bt_ts=1686019030476
There's a non-paywalled hyperlink in the link shootER posted above. It's not pretty. For some reason journalism is like sports: every asshole in the world thinks they know how to do it and how to "fix" it.
The last segment of Olbermann's podcast is always him talking about his experiences in the industry. (He repeats the same stories often, BTW.) The two latest episodes, he practically starts the episodes ranting about what a dick Licht was. And Olbermann's worked professionally with Licht several times. Licht was his producer on a couple of shows (until Licht got fired), and Licht was the producer on several shows where Keith was a guest host a couple of times. Only executives ever liked Licht, and then not for very long. He's like those politicians who run for office and then flame out once they elected because they don't know how to do the job of being in office, they only know how to run for office.
Ooooh, the story gets ever so much better! The Town podcast for yesterday has an interview with the guy who wrote The Atlantic article and he says that a day or so before Licht got fired, the guy heard a rumor about it, called CNN for comment before he ran the piece and CNN went, “Oh, shit! We need to fire him before the piece runs!” So, not only did the article cause him to get fired but it also caused him to get fired sooner than CNN planned!
