Logo

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

CNN’s Jeff Zucker Tells Employees the Network Will ‘Do It With Less’

Aug 25, 2014  •  Post A Comment

CNN chief Jeff Zucker told the cable news channel’s employees last week that the network is “going to do less and have to do it with less,” reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

He made the remarks during a news meeting Tuesday morning, with the publication receiving a partial transcript from an employee of Turner, CNN’s parent.

The publication reports: “Zucker made his comments to staff the day after Turner chief John Martin sent a memo to staff saying a more streamlined company would be in place by the start of next year and that employees would begin hearing more in coming weeks. Turner executives are trying to refocus the business, including shedding costs, spending more on original programming to boost ratings and looking to prioritize other growth options.”

According to the transcript, Zucker said, “We now have a sense of what Turner is expecting from CNN. I am working with the senior management team at CNN to figure out what this means for us. This will result in changes [in] what we do and what we stop doing.”

jeff zucker

Jeff Zucker

8 Comments

  1. And of course that means that Zucker will be taking less salary correct? Because clearly if they are going to be doing less then he shouldn’t be paid the same.

  2. They should start with cutting Zucker.

    Surely the seven, (or more), figure they’re paying him could go a lot further with better results and more productive results from personnel already on staff.

    Peter Bright

  3. When Zucker first took over CNN, I sent him a email suggesting the network should stop trying to build ratings on the backs of its anchors and instead deliver a broader spectrum of news to its viewers. But, because he is a programmer, not a journalist, he continues to think the end to CNN and HLN’s sagging viewership can be found through the use of news personalities along with the introduction of long-form documentary styled programming. Zucker is trying to regain CNN’s dominance by imitating the success of FOX News’ brand of news-tainment without having to appeal to a politically conservative audience. But now he is even rethinking that idea. (I smell desperation) Zucker’s constant tinkering has caused CNN/HLN to stray so far from its core journalistic values it may never recover. Now with further cuts on the horizon, the picture is even bleaker. Viewers deserve coverage of ALL THE NEWS, not just a handful of endlessly repeated top stories.

    • Well put, Steve. Your final sentence is the bow around this present to top CNN execs…all they have to say to dandy Jeff is two words: “You’re Fired”.
      Peter Bright

  4. Apparently, a relentlessly “Progressive” propaganda channel posing as a “news” channel isn’t a profitable business model. Who Knew.

    Looks like CNN will continue to shrink like the incredible shrinking man, eventually crying “Help me, help me” in a teeny tiny voice no one can hear any more as the Fox Spider eats its lunch.

  5. I suppose if you’re going to have a crappy, almost-but-not-really news network, you can do it with less. After all, Jeff, you’ve got hardly any viewers left anyway….

  6. I don’t watch news to be “entertained”. I watch news to be informed and made aware of just what stage of clusterfuck we’ve pushed the planet to the previous day. And you can absolutely do it cheap – go ‘retro’ and do it the way they did in the old days – stick a guy behind a desk and in front of some sort of backdrop. Directly link the teleprompter to the AP news feed and let a newsreader do their job of reading the news.
    Lather, rinse, repeat.

  7. Zucker is an old white guy (so am I, so I can say this!) who is an anachronism in today’s multi-media digital world. He is used to doing things the way they were done in the 90’s, and even then, at NBC , Zucker’s performance results were very mixed. How he got the CNN job is astounding. He has absolutely no clue, as to what the identity of CNN should be in today’s unlimited real-time video/multi-platform worked should be. In actually, CNN is becoming as irrelevant as Zucker himself.

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)