The Man Who Fixed The New York Times Wants to Fix CNN

Channels with Peter Kafka

Would you pay $7 a month to stream CNN?

Because CNN CEO Mark Thompson would like you to do that.

I know, I know, I’m skeptical, too. But Thompson has been here before: At his last job, as CEO of the New York Times, he helped shepherd that company’s subscription business, which had a gazillion naysayers at the start. And now the Times’ business model is the envy of everyone in journalism.

Can he do it again? One big difference is that the Times launched its paywall all the way back in 2011, before everyone was asking consumers to pay for monthly subscriptions for everything. I also have a hunch that the Times brand registers more deeply for its audience than CNN does for its. But now we’ll get to find out.

Meantime, all of this is happening as CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery is likely to get sold, yet again. Which means all of the work Thompson and his team are doing could get upended by a new management regime.

But that’s the future. For now, it’s very much worth listening to Thompson make the case for CNN, and TV news in general.

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