CNN SHAKE-UP THREATENS TO CHASE COOPER
SILVER fox Anderson Cooper is considered the top news dude at CNN, but sources say he’s set to bolt to another network since a new boss has been dismantling the cable TV channel.
After taking over the network from Jeff Zucker a few months ago, corporate chairman and CEO Chris
Licht has fired some of the network’s biggest names and, sources say, he’s started making life hell for top dogs like 55-year-old Anderson and fellow host Don Lemon.
Now both Cooper and Lemon are feeling the heat as Licht parachutes in his own team, including former NYPD cop John Miller, who’s been named the net’s new Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, and Dr. Tara Narula, who he stole from CBS News. Licht is trying to root out CNN’s woke culture and focus more on hard news, industry insiders say.
“But it’s gone from bad to worse, from Anderson’s vantage point at least,” blabs a source. “He’s carefully plotting his exit strategy and getting the hell out of there. He doesn’t need all this stress and workplace politics.”
Anderson believes he’s a golden boy, who helped make CNN a bigger success than it already was and deserves better treatment from the new boss, says the source.
“In truth, everyone knows it would be the death knell if Cooper quits. But he’s already hinting of doing just that. Anderson walks around the newsroom talking of taking a break and traveling the world. He’s been working 14-hour days since he can remember.”
Cooper, the son of heiress and fashion guru Gloria Vanderbilt and screenwriter Wyatt Cooper, has been burning the candle at both ends, spies say. He has a new book that lifts the lid on his famous family, Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty.
“Anderson is biding his time and planning to come out of this CNN upheaval way ahead while thumbing his nose at all his rivals and that includes
FOX News anchor Tucker Carlson,” says the insider. “They can’t stand each other.”
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GLOBE / September 26, 2022