New boss shakes up ‘CNN This Morning’
CNN completely revamped its morning show programming and made clear the changes were pushed by the network’s new boss after the former chief’s “lackluster” lineup “never gained traction in the ratings.”
The changes instituted by chief executive Mark Thompson include shuffling “CNN This Morning” from its 6 a.m. spot to a 5 a.m. start time and shortening it from three hours to two hours. The program will leave New York City to tape in Washington, D.C., under new host Kasie Hunt.
“CNN This Morning” launched in November 2022 with Poppy Harlow, Don Lemon and Kaitlan Collins at the helm. Phil Mattingly joined Harlow in August after Collins was promoted to primetime and Lemon was fired.
Lemon, who’d been with CNN for 17 years, was “stunned” when he was cut loose in April, fewer than six months after “CNN This Morning” launched. He seemingly struck a sour note with some colleagues in February after claiming presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, was past her prime.
“A woman is said to be in her prime in her 20s, 30s and maybe 40s,” Lemon, 56, claimed.
Chris Licht took charge of CNN in 2022 after first producing MSNBC’s popular show “Morning Joe,” then moved to CBS where he popularized “CBS This Morning” and launched “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Licht was ousted from CNN in 2023 at the end of a 13-month tenure that the network’s media reporter Oliver Darcy said was “stained by a series of severe missteps.”
New “CNN This Morning” host Hunt came to the network from MSNBC in 2021 where she was a “Morning Joe” regular.
“CNN News Central,” which used to air at 9 a.m., will now begin at 7 a.m. and end at 10 a.m. It will be followed by an hourlong stretch of programming hosted by veteran reporter Jim Acosta.