I agree - it’s a silly name. But clearly they’ve gone with the King Charles thing as a reference.
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Don Lemon has been fired from CNN
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A really needed move for the channel, one of the last bastions of the former Zucker era. According to Variety, Poppy and Kaitlan are set to continue anchoring in duo for the foreseeable future:
Here’s how CNN announced the news to viewers, and also announced Oliver Darcy (Brian Stelter’s former colleague on Reliable Sources) is back on CNN as a contributor:
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Called it months ago. Good riddance.
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Watched a bit this morning to see if it would be mentioned and saw during Erin Burnett they had several minutes and segments dissecting the Tucker Carlson sacking from Fox and then a very brief mention right at the end about Don and 17 years at CNN only a couple of sentences.
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Here’s how Poppy and Kaitlan addressed the situation this morning, complete with amended open:
(Video courtesy NewscastStudio)
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An update to this… contributor Audie Cornish might become the third co-host of the show. Today she sat alongside Poppy and Kaitlan in a test run. No word if she will occupy the seat formally
More changes to CNN’s domestic schedule: Dana Bash becomes solo host of Inside Politics. John King to focus going forward on election coverage, including a new long-form project reporting on voters’ behavior in battleground states leading up to the 2024 election.
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Back to this… Insider’s media reporter Claire Atkinson is being told the new graphics will be unveiled at WBD’s advertiser upfront on May 17 (held at the Hulu Theater [sic] at Madison Square Garden in New York) and launched in June.
One year into his new role, CNN CEO Chris Licht is quietly working on a major brand refresh of the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned global news network. The effort will see a rethink of everything from changing the typeface of the lower-third captions on the TV screen and a new in-studio look to a revamp of CNN’s website and overall digital presence. […] The network is expected to unveil the new look at WBD’s upfront presentation later this spring with the brand refresh becoming noticeable to viewers in June, according to a person who has been involved in the discussions and seen mock-ups. The changes include a lower-third caption style that is described as elegant, and producers will be able to deploy different looks depending on whether anchors are reporting run-of-the-mill news of the day or big breaking stories.
The full article (paywall):
Next Wednesday, CNN will air its first town hall under Licht, with… Donald Trump. It will be moderated by Kaitlan Collins and will be an outside broadcast from New Hampshire.
https://us.cnn.com/2023/05/01/politics/donald-trump-town-hall/index.html
Although it might sound and look as an attempt to chase ratings (even if Licht wants to lessen its attention in ratings and focus on building a dedicated audience), it certainly grabs the attention of two things: first, it is his first time appearing in the network in a longtime (and will become a ratings hit for sure), and second (and most important), it could be a turning point for Licht’s strategy to focus on “fair and balanced” news, and specially, for Kaitlan, who constantly grilled Trump during her tenure as Chief White House Correspondent.
If CNN does this right, they might get a new prime time star and a big boost to their credibility after the Zucker era and the behind-the-scenes mess after the WBD takeover. CNN political director David Chalian defended the decision to invite Trump and select Kaitlan as moderator on an interview with Vanity Fair, whilst also telling questions will be fact-checked before being selected:
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Puck News’ Dylan Byers is reporting Kaitlan has got the 9pm slot even before the Trump town hall…
Phil Mattingly has been filling in for her on CNN This Morning over this week as she prepares for tonight’s event. His chemistry with Poppy has been really good, and if he takes the job permanently (no word if such, but maybe), the troubled show will reinvent itself and will have a really big boost in all things and ways (but there will be the need to find a new Chief White House Correspondent).
CNN Tonight won’t have Laura Coates as host of the 11pm hour, even if the planned format for her (a more conversational format with pundits seating on sofas) has been applied with Alisyn Camerota (the 10pm hour is more traditional). The move was due to Coates recently signing with SiriusXM for a legal-oriented bipartisan talk show. She is remaining with CNN however, having recently accepted a role as Chief Legal Analyst.
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Last night’s CNN Town Hall was a real disaster… although Kaitlan Collins did her best and attempted to keep challenging and fact-checking Trump, it was the expected and predictable mix of one-man show, lies, interruptions and audience shouting. To make things worse, it was followed by a special AC360º (feat. Jake Tapper and Laura Coates) with Zucker-era fact-checking talking points.
Criticism is not only mounting against how the show went, but also against Chris Licht, accusing him of converting the network into a “political and journalistic whorehouse” (Keith Olbermann) and asking how the network “should be ashamed of themselves” (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). Criticism is also being observed over how CNN promoted the debate by scooping interviews with Trump critic Liz Cheney and conspiracy theorist JD Vance.
IMHO, Kaitlan’s performance was fine (she should have done better indeed, but she tried to do her best), but the overbearing behavior of the former President led to the town hall becoming such a very cringeworthy and uncomfortable watch, for all the wrong reasons. Licht trying to make CNN fully nonpartisan has led to these accusations of “false balance” which will indeed taint their credibility, even more so with the ongoing criticism of the town hall.
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If anyone has video of CNN This Morning at 6.21am ET you would see Mattinglly knock his coffee all over the place and a good few minutes of entertainment.
He and Poppy work really well together.
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CNN knew exactly what they were doing here. They knew it was going to be an incoherent disaster which would be near impossible to moderate, yet they went ahead with it anyways, showing that they haven’t learned anything from the last 5 years. Clicks and ratings winning over credibility…
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Actually agree with CNN boss.
CNN’s job is to do the news. They had a 75 minute interview with one of the most newsworthy people in the world. They exposed his insane views on things. They fact checked him in real time and straight after. Let the audience judge.
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Additionally to this, both Brian Stelter and Oliver Darcy are being told CNN staffers are angry, even with Licht’s reassurances to staff; additionally, Collins has been receiving support from viewers and critics whilst continuing their scathing assessment of the town hall:
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From a news perspective, great. From a viewers and ratings perspective, given the polarised news media, I guess it’s hard to know what they gained from it.
That we’re even talking about that as a thing shows how fractured even things like “news” is in 2023. 
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It’s official: Kaitlyn Collins is the face of CNN at 9pm starting this Summer.
New graphics also demoed at the Upfront, courtesy of TVNewsTalk. Can’t really say these are an improvement over the existing ones (and certainly not as good as Licht’s analogy implied), but hey - at least the compressed headline is gone, for now 
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Here’s a better view of the new graphics (sorry for the dodgy quality, this is a quick montage I did):
This is a big rip-off of the graphics CNN+ used for extended breaking news coverage:
And I see they are bringing back the flipper instead of a ticker. This is the only good move of this new look, as it is easier for viewers to see and read it.
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Wonder what happens to CNN This Morning now. Was Phil Mattingly a test the other week? Would he move his family to NY? Will it ever rerun to three hosts?
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