CNN names Mark Thompson as its new chairman and CEO, replacing Chris Licht

Mark has been in the news business for more than four decades and, as many of you are aware, he has an exceptional track record of innovation and excellence, Zaslav wrote in the memo. I am confident he is exactly the leader we need to take the helm of CNN at this pivotal time. Since Lichts exit, CNN has been run on an interim basis by executives including talent chief Amy Entelis, head of news-gathering Virginia Moseley, programming head Eric Sherling, and head of commercial David Leavy.Thompson, 66, has collaborated with Zaslav in years past. Before running The New York Times, Thompson was managing the BBC as its director general.Under Thompson, the Times introduced NYT Cooking, a subscription-based recipe service. Thompson also oversaw the Times acquisition of Wirecutter and the launch of The Daily, the popular news-based podcast.Since leaving the Times, Thompson has served on the board of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and he served as a co-chair of the International Fund for Public Interest Media. Thompson started his journalism career in 1979 when he was hired by the BBC as a production trainee. He eventually rose to become showrunner for prestigious newsmagazines such as Newsnight and Panorama. The post CNN names Mark Thompson as its new chairman and CEO, replacing Chris Licht appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.