• by Karlene Lukovitz , October 10, 2023

On his first day as CNN’s new CEO on Monday, Mark Thompson declared that, despite encouraging developments like the recent launch of the CNN Max streamer, is too dependent on traditional TV and “nowhere near ready for the future.”

Conventional TV is “vital” and “will remain critical,” but it is “one platform in a growing portfolio of platforms” and “too dominant” at CNN, Thompson said in an introductory video sent to employees. 

Digital is “too marginal” at the network, and its digital products “lag well behind the current state of the art,” he said, adding that he plans to correct that, by working with the CNN team. 

From now on, CNN must be committed to presenting news “in whatever form, in whatever product, makes most sense for audiences today,” Thompson continued. “For most people under retirement age, the first place they turn for their news is their phones, not their TV," and news outlets that "don't respond to that revolution" risk extinction. 

CNN needs to “pick up the pace now if we want CNN to be one of the winners in this era of news,” he said.

Thompson said that, given the recent turmoil at CNN, he was “braced for cynicism and suspicion,” but has instead found “a group of tough and amazingly focused and enthusiastic people” who “still believe in CNN and its mission 100%” and “want to get on with the future.” 

He stressed that “the world needs news it can trust more than ever,” and asserted that CNN is well-positioned for the task because, unlike The New York Times and other news organizations that “bring the news to elite audiences,” CNN was “founded to bring it to everyone.” 

As for coverage in these divisive times, Thompson said CNN should “follow the news wherever it leads us and no matter who is going to be upset,” and not “get distracted by complicated arguments about balance or whataboutism or false equivalency… Let’s cover political news proportionately and fairly, but not be frightened by our own shadows.”