(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) Oliver Darcy, a CNN reporter who criticized his own network for airing President Trump’s recent town hall, was dressed down by CNN’s new boss Chris Licht, and was visibly shaken by the ordeal.
Darcy’s criticism of the event was published in his newsletter, “Reliable Sources.” The relevant section of this particular letter bore the title “Trump and the Town Hall,” and opened with a denunciation of the event.
“It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening,” Darcy wrote, criticizing the editorial decision to have Trump on CNN.
While Darcy praised Kaitlan Collins’s handling of Trump, he also argued that Trump was not contained by her. Darcy also aired CNN’s dirty laundry.
“CNN and new network boss Chris Licht are facing a fury of criticism — both internally and externally over the event,” he wrote, informing the public of internal dissatisfaction with Licht’s leadership.
This led to Darcy being confronted and dressed down by Licht to the point where Darcy was “visibly shaken,” according to The Blaze.
Dylan Byers, a former CNN reporter and self-styled “veteran reporter,” addressed the tension inside of CNN. Licht addressed Darcy’s criticisms in a meeting, according to Byers, who was relying on anonymous sources.
“America was served very well by what we did last night,” Licht said, directly contradicting Darcy’s assertion.
Licht’s dress down of Darcy came later in the day, and included Darcy’s editor, CNN’s communications chief and several members of CNN’s brass.
Anonymous sources informed Byers that Darcy stood by his reporting and challenged the criticism that he was emotional. The same source, however, also reported that “they put the fear of God into him.”
Byers argued that the rebuke is consistent with Licht’s vision for CNN.
“Indeed, there may be no single maxim that better characterizes the Zaz-Lichtian philosophy of New CNN, and the expectations of its journalists, than dispassion,” he wrote.
Byers noted that this radical departure from the old CNN model by which most of the current CNN reporting staff operated, is not fully embraced by many of their veteran reporters. Fortunately for Licht, the move is supported by the CNN brass.
Byers noted that, while no one was as brazen as Darcy, “the vast majority” of his insider contacts at CNN admired his reporting.
