Those who thought that the soap opera within CNN was over were wrong. He had at least one more chapter. The crisis that the great information network in the United States is going through has worsened this Tuesday with the departure of Allison Gollust, the executive in charge of marketing and partner of Jeff Zucker, the president since 2013, and who was forced to resign at the beginning this month after failing to report a relationship with a co-worker.
Gollust’s resignation was communicated to employees on Tuesday night through a memorandum signed by the head of WarnerMedia, Jason Kilar, pointed out as the great beneficiary of the recomposition of balances within a company that has seen audience numbers fall. and it is changing to accommodate a gigantic merger.
The company reported this afternoon that an internal investigation based on 40 interviews with employees and the review of thousands of emails and text messages revealed that Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust and Chris Cuomo, the star presenter fired in December and who today claims several million dollars to the network, violated ethics policies. “We have the highest standards of journalistic integrity at CNN, and those rules must apply to everyone equally,” Kilar said in his message, who defended the departure of the three high profiles as a “correct decision.”
Gollust has harshly criticized the ways of her departure, which has come before her co-workers knew about it from her. “It is an attempt to take revenge against me and change the media narrative after two weeks of disastrous handling of the case,” the executive said in a statement reproduced by CNN itself, a medium where many journalists, some very close to Zucker, They have shown surprise at the handling of the crisis and have asked for explanations.
The executive stated at the beginning of February, after the departure of her partner from the company, that she was going to remain in her position. Gollust regretted then not having communicated at the right time his sentimental situation that, he said, he had gone to “another stage during the pandemic” with Zucker, whom he had known for several years. “I look forward to continuing the great work we do,” he added.
That message came while an internal investigation requested by WarnerMedia executives was ongoing. This had been ordered in December to one of the most important law firms in the United States, Cravath, Swaine and Moore, to investigate a cluster of accusations against Cuomo for having helped his brother Andrew, the governor of New York, to deal with accusations of sexual harassment.
The past has united those involved in this drama for years. Gollust and Zucker have known each other for decades, when she was a publicist for the show. Today of NBC and he executive producer of the broadcast. Later, at the suggestion of a friend, Gollust was signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo as his communications officer. She left her position after two years, in 2013, when Zucker became president of CNN and invited her to join the network to work as the head of corporate communication.
Zucker and Gollust became targets of investigators unearthing alleged misconduct by Chris Cuomo. This has been revealed by various US media, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journalin reports dedicated to the fall from grace of CNN’s top leadership.
Today the conclusions of the lawyers in charge of the investigation are known. The main conclusion is that the departure of the three principals involved was suggested. “I know this news is troubling, disappointing and hurtful,” said Kilar, the powerful chairman of WarnerMedia. Gollust said on Tuesday she felt upset that she had been treated like this after nine years at the company. “I leave with my head held high, knowing that I gave my life and heart working with the best journalists in the world,” she declared.
CNN has covered the casualties with internships while waiting for the waters to calm down a bit and the new appointments arrive.
