Transcript: CNN Stars Brace for Impact
Inside CEO Mark Thompson's tumultuous makeover of cable news
Sean McNulty (00:04):
Welcome to The Ankler Podcast. This is Sean McNulty of The Wakeup newsletter here at The Ankler, here on the Jersey Shore on Thursday, October 17th. Elaine is not with us today due to a tennis-related endeavor, David, and that's not actually me making a joke. She's actually at a real tennis thing, right, David?
David Lidsky (00:21):
Yeah, I think so. But don't ask me for any details. She's missed, but yeah.
Sean McNulty (00:26):
Trust me, that's about as far into tennis as I go here. So Elaine, we wish you the best wherever you are in your big tennis endeavor today. That, of course, is David Lidsky here joining me on the East Coast and Richard Rushfield on the West Coast. Richard, what food are you making for the big Netflix earnings call today? What do you got cooking?
Richard Rushfield (00:41):
My traditional six-bean dip there. I have the whole gang come over and we can do a tailgate party beforehand and it gets a little crazy before long.
David Lidsky (00:58):
Watching that countdown on the YouTube for when they put up the call.
Sean McNulty (01:04):
It goes live on YouTube. It's quite a moment.
Richard Rushfield (01:06):
But be careful driving after that ends. Got a lot of people going to be getting on the streets.
Sean McNulty (01:14):
Gets pretty crazy out there. Yeah, taking down goalposts and marching in the streets there for the team. So anyway, we're recording here on Thursday in mid-afternoon. The Netflix earnings call is happening at about an hour, hour and a half or so. So I'll have the full wrap-up tomorrow in The Wakeup and Friday's edition there at theankler.com. You can check that out. But we're going to touch on some Netflix stuff a little later on today. But we have a special guest. We have a new contributor here at The Ankler, Lachlan Cartwright. Lachlan, welcome to the pod.
Lachlan Cartwright (01:42):
G'day. Good to be here.
Sean McNulty (01:43):
You had quite a read this week, all about a topic that's getting a lot of focus here in election season. That is not the election itself thankfully, but rather what's going on at CNN, particularly in regards to what's the plan here, everybody? It's a new leader. Mark Thompson has been in the chief executive role for about pretty much almost a year at this point. Taking over from the brief Chris Licht reign, who took over from Jeff Zucker, of course, who had a rather different approach to anchor talent, I think it's safe to say, especially in regards to how much he paid them, Lachlan. So as Richard Rushfield always tells me to do, start with the money. Flat is the new up at CNN. What's going on? What'd you find out this week?