This reporting is featured in this week’s edition of Confider, the newsletter pulling back the curtain on the media. Subscribe here and send your questions, tips, and complaints here.
CNN CEO Chris Licht met with longshot GOP 2024 hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy last month and discussed issues surrounding free speech, cancel culture, and “wokeism,” two people familiar with the meeting told Confider. The March meetup, which took place in NYC just days ahead of a Ramaswamy appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, came at the request of the Woke Inc. author as he ramps up his campaign to be president, built around a “national identity that dilutes the woke agenda to irrelevance.” As Confider’s favorite industry schmoozer, Licht has made no secret of his efforts to court conservatives as he reshapes CNN. Elsewhere, Confider has learned, CNN is looking to shake up its daily Inside Politics show by likely replacing anchor John King with CNN’s chief political correspondent Dana Bash, who currently co-anchors State of the Union with Jake Tapper. The swap would be doubly notable as King and Bash were previously married and share a son together. A rep for CNN declined to comment.
