Newtown Native Chris Licht Out As Head Of CNN, Company Announces

NEWTOWN, CT — Chris Licht, a Newtown native who was named to the job a year ago, is out at cable news giant CNN as its Chair and CEO, the company announced Wednesday.

Licht's dismissal comes after a tumultuous tenure at CNN, which has struggled with declining ratings, and grappled with the sudden departures of former head Jeff Zucker, who Licht replaced, and anchors Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon.

Over the weekend, a controversial profile of Licht was published in The Atlantic, which discussed some of his missteps at CNN.

In the wake of Licht's departure, CNN will be run on an interim basis by Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent and content development; Virginia Moseley, executive vice president of editorial; and Eric Sherling, executive vice president of U.S. programming, the company announced.

A search for a permanent replacement for Licht is underway, according to David Zaslav, CEO of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.

Licht has an extensive background in television news and entertainment; he was instrumental in the creation and success of shows such as "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," "CBS This Morning," and MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

He grew up in Newtown, and graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism and political science, according to Wikipedia.