CNN president resigns after relationship with co-worker

By David Bauder

AP Media Author

NEW YORK CNN President Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned Wednesday right after acknowledging a consensual partnership with a different network government — an entanglement that came to light-weight all through an investigation of now-fired anchor Chris Cuomo.

Zucker stated he was requested about his relationship with longtime aide Allison Gollust as portion of the Cuomo investigation, which disclosed that the former anchor experienced aided his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as he navigated a sexual harassment scandal.

“I acknowledged the romance had progressed in recent decades,” Zucker wrote in a memo asserting the close of his 9-12 months tenure. “I was required to disclose it when it started but I did not. I was mistaken.”

A memo to workers from Jason Kilar, CEO of CNN mum or dad WarnerMedia, reported a few senior executives at CNN would run the network on an interim foundation.

Zucker, 56, has been an sector leader since he was govt producer of the “Today” clearly show in the 1990s. In the pursuing decade, he ran NBC’s leisure division, wherever he was instrumental in placing the actuality exhibit “The Apprentice” starring Donald Trump on the air.

He rose to become main of NBC Common and left in 2010 when Comcast took about.

In a assertion Zucker stated he wished that his tenure at CNN experienced finished in another way but, “it was an astounding operate. And I liked each individual moment.”

Gollust, a former publicist who rose to the rank of CNN’s executive vice president and main marketing officer, is keeping at the network.

“Jeff and I have been shut friends and skilled associates for about 20 decades,” she stated in a statement. “Recently, our connection improved during COVID. I regret that we did not disclose it at the right time. I’m unbelievably happy of my time at CNN and look forward to continuing the fantastic get the job done we do day to day.”

Prior to becoming a member of CNN, Gollust served as communications director for Andrew Cuomo. Like Zucker, she labored at NBC prior to that. Equally are divorced.

Chris Cuomo, at the time CNN’s most popular prime-time anchor, was fired in December when it was discovered in paperwork launched by New York Legal professional General Letitia James that his guiding-the-scenes purpose helping craft his brother’s reaction to harassment expenses was a lot more in depth than formerly acknowledged.

James’ office environment observed that Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed at the very least 11 girls. The former governor resigned in August to stay clear of a possible impeachment demo.

Chris Cuomo is reportedly trying to get a settlement from CNN, and speculation that Zucker and Gollust’s romantic relationship might come up in these talks was raised when Radaronline.com wrote a tale about the two very last thirty day period.

Cuomo’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, did not instantly return a message trying to get comment.

The resignation was met with shock within CNN, where Zucker was commonly nicely preferred. He sharpened the network’s target and, as a former producer, was generally witnessed in the regulate rooms providing arms-on information about managing reveals.

Like other news retailers, CNN has endured in the the rankings subsequent the conclusion of the 2020 election, and has not nevertheless named a replacement for Cuomo.

Significantly in prime time, CNN personalities have grow to be substantially more probable to express their opinions on the air, and Zucker’s downfall was satisfied with glee in some conservative circles.

Ironically, Zucker had been criticized early in the 2016 election cycle when CNN gave comprehensive time to covering Trump’s rallies dwell.

“Zucker produced Donald Trump a star, much more than when. That is his legacy,” tweeted media analyst Jeff Jarvis on Wednesday.

But in his presidency, Trump usually known as CNN “fake news” and criticized Zucker individually. The former president issued a statement crowing about his departure on Wednesday.

Gurus explained Zucker’s resignation may affect the approaching CNN+ streaming services, which has been generating an aggressive hard work to recruit significant media names like Fox News’ Chris Wallace and NPR’s Audie Cornish. That provider is expected to launch in March.

“The timing of this departure is probably about as sick-timed as you can get,” for CNN+, explained Tim Hanlon, CEO of media consultancy The Vertere Group. “CNN is earning up for a lot of missing time with the arrival of their streaming services … The vision of CNN+ is extremely substantially in problem. It has Jeff Zucker’s hallmarks all in excess of it.”

There had been uncertainty around Zucker’s future at CNN in current yrs. He experienced beforehand introduced he was leaving amid experiences of friction with Kilar. But there was some hope at CNN that he would continue to be given a pending company merger that would place CNN beneath the umbrella of Discovery executive David Zaslav, recognized to be Zucker’s near good friend.

“This certainly will make it fairly distinct that their long run is much more large open up,” explained Moody’s senior vice president Neil Begley. “It makes a cleaner slate for the new staff to appear in an make a decision what is the best way to improve CNN and news total.”

Zucker was named chairman of WarnerMedia Information and Athletics in March 2019. He has also served as president of CNN Throughout the world given that 2013.

He oversaw all of WarnerMedia’s are living programming, together with all divisions of CNN Around the world and Turner Sporting activities. At CNN, that features the US television community, CNN Worldwide, HLN, and CNN’s digital attributes. His sports activities portfolio included Turner Sports and Bleacher Report.

The situation of Zucker’s resignation are probable to damage CNN’s track record mainly because it demonstrates a pattern of ethical laxness, said Paul Argenti, a Dartmouth College professor of company conversation.

CNN was criticized for relocating way too slowly but surely when it was discovered that Chris Cuomo experienced been helping his brother guiding the scenes. At about the exact same time, at the peak of the COVID-19 disaster, CNN bent its personal regulations to enable Chris to interview Andrew on the air.

“You’ve got to leap on these items quickly and react by saying ‘We built a miscalculation and here’s what we’re undertaking so it never takes place again,’” Argenti said. “They should really have completed that soon after Cuomo.”

The gender advocacy group UltraViolet on Wednesday termed on CNN to start an impartial investigation into its management and workplace procedures.

When Gollust and Zucker said their relationship experienced modified only lately, their closeness had been observed in advance of. Katie Couric, in her 2021 memoir “Going There,” claimed Zucker had pushed her to seek the services of Gollust when he was advising her on the 2012 launch of her syndicated everyday converse show.

“When we labored collectively at NBC, she and Jeff cooked up at any time bolder strategies to draw focus to ‘Today’ and afterwards to Jeff himself when he moved to leisure,” she wrote. “They were joined at the hip.”

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