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CNN’s Quad Goals & Fox’s Zelensky Booking War

As Mark Thompson finally ascends to the throne of CNN, “The Quad” prepare for the post linear world. Plus: a Fox-Newsmax morality tale for our times.

While most of Thompson’s meetings have focused on the flagship linear product, he has also telegraphed in private conversations that he is committed to a long-term transformation of CNN’s business model, presumably based on the playbook he ran as C.E.O. of The New York Times Company.
While most of Thompson’s meetings have focused on the flagship linear product, he has also telegraphed in private conversations that he is committed to a long-term transformation of CNN’s business model, presumably based on the playbook he ran as C.E.O. of The New York Times Company. Photo: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
September 30, 2023

On Friday, incoming CNN chairman and C.E.O. Mark Thompson spent the full day at Hudson Yards headquarters for about eight hours of presentations and meetings with CNN’s chief digital officer Athan Stephanopoulos and other members of the network’s digital team. This was just one of several appointments on Thompson’s calendar as he prepares to formally take the reins of David Zaslav’s news network on October 9. He’s had meetings and conversations with dozens of the network’s top executives, producers, and on-air talent in recent weeks, paid a visit to the Washington, D.C., and Atlanta bureaus, and also attended this week’s News & Documentary Emmys, where CNN picked up nearly a dozen awards—a rare and important victory for a network that is suffering from historically bad ratings.