CNN could be nearing the end of its left-leaning tilt, as billionaire media mogul and Donald Trump donor John Malone wants the network restored to impartiality after Jeff Zucker's departure, according to a Daily Mail report published Friday.
Zucker, CNN president for the past nine years, exited Wednesday after acknowledging that he'd violated corporate policy by failing to disclose his romantic relationship with Allison Gollust, another top CNN executive.
Malone, the CEO of Liberty Media, a significant shareholder in Discovery whose acquisition of CNN parent company WarnerMedia is expected to pass regulatory approval and close as soon as May, pressed for Zucker to be fired, making it known that corporate procedures had to be followed to a T regarding Zucker's situation, the report said.
Malone was reportedly a chief architect of the merger of Discovery and CNN, according to Mediaite.
Zucker's relationship had come up during an internal investigation concerning then-anchor Chris Cuomo, who was fired in December over his involvement in the political affairs of his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Malone, colorfully labeled by some the "Cable Cowboy," has been critical of Zucker's programming strategy at CNN and in 2019 said he was eager to see the network return to the "kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing."
"I do believe good journalism could have a role in this future portfolio that Discovery-TimeWarner's going to represent," he added.
AT&T CEO John Stankey, who oversees WarnerMedia and CNN, and Discovery CEO David Zaslav on Friday didn't give much information on Zucker's resignation. But they did rebut reports that Malone had something to do with Zucker leaving.
"Jeff had a tremendous following within CNN, and there's a lot of people who were incredibly loyal and supportive of him — that makes it hard for those individuals," Stankey said on CNBC.
"I am not going to speculate on your theory" about Malone's involvement, Stankey said. "I have always had a practice of not commenting on personnel decisions, and I'm not going to do that here."
"None of us had anything to do with it," Zaslav said when asked about Malone.
"Jeff is a good friend of mine, but I can't speak to this issue," he added.
In recent years, throughout the Trump administration, Trump and other conservative Republicans frequently assailed CNN's coverage as pro-liberl Democrat and far from a reliable and objective news source. Trump himself has issued statements celebrating the exits of Cuomo and now Zucker as a step toward restored credibility and fairness.
This week, for instance, Trump's statements included slams like this: "The stench of Jeff Zucker is finally leaving CNN. The air over there, the Radical Left will be happy to hear, is being made more 'environmentally friendly.' "