CNN chief executive Chris Licht has stepped down after just 13 months in the job.
Licht had been under pressure at Warner Bros Discovery-owned CNN after a recent profile of him in the Atlantic magazine raised questions about his leadership.
The news network has also seen falling ratings and was heavily criticised for its handling of a town hall interview with former president Donald Trump.
In a statement, David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, said: “I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally. The job of leading CNN was never going to be easy, especially at a time of huge disruption and transformation, and he has poured his heart and soul into it.
“While we know we have work to do as we look to identify a new leader, we have absolute confidence in the team we have in place and will continue to fight for CNN and its world class journalism.”
Licht took over at CNN May 2022 after Discovery merged with Warner Media, home to CNN. Soon after the merger, then CNN chief Jeff Zucker was ousted streaming service CNN+ was cancelled.
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Before taking over as head of CNN, Licht was EVP of special programming at CBS and executive producer and showrunner for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Prior to that, he was vice president of programming for CBS News and executive producer of the network’s morning news programme, CBS This Morning, which he helped launch in 2012.
Before CBS, Licht was the co-creator and original executive producer of MSNBC’s popular morning news show, Morning Joe.
His position at CNN had been in question after a new chief operating officer, David Leavy, seen as close to Zaslav, was appointed to the news channel earlier this month.
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