Chris Licht, CNN’s new chairman and CEO, announced Tuesday his first big hires for on-air talent at the network following the firings of some hard-left hyper partisan personalities with more dismissals expected.
John Miller was hired by the network to be its Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst. Miller, who most recently served as Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence & Counterterrorism for the NYPD, also has experience as a journalist, including serving as a correspondent for CBS News and ABC News and co-anchoring ABC’s “20/20,” CNN said in a statement.
Miller has covered major news stories like the Boston Marathon bombings and September 11 terrorist attacks and famously landed an extensive on-camera interview with al-Qaeda leader and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
“John will help deliver on CNN’s commitment to tackle complex issues while presenting audiences with independent, objective news and meaningful analysis across platforms,” Licht said. “As both a brilliant journalist and experienced, compelling subject matter expert, he brings to the network an incredible breadth of knowledge.”
“I’ve worked closely with Chris Licht and share his editorial vision: speed, but not at the expense of accuracy, passion but not at the expense of objectivity,” Miller said. “I am especially proud to join CNN at a time when covering the news, getting it right and delivering it in a straightforward way has never been more vital to the American public.”
John Miller Joins CNN as Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst. Welcome, John! https://t.co/kCbhNc68GI pic.twitter.com/KbC5jmIJZX
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) September 6, 2022
Licht also announced the hiring of Dr. Tara Narula as CNN’s new Medical Correspondent.
Narula previously worked at CBS News as their senior medical correspondent reporting for all CBS News broadcasts and platforms, CNN said.
Join us in welcoming @drtaranarula to CNN as our new Medical Correspondent! https://t.co/mJlRRKXM69 pic.twitter.com/lxF1E0rz6t
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) September 6, 2022
The new hires come after CNN has parted ways with some hard-left hyper partisan personalities in recent weeks, including Brian Stelter and John Harwood.
Licht started to evaluate the hyper-partisan so-called “talent” at the network shortly after he joined CNN as he aims to dial down the extreme partisanship that has plagued the network in recent years.
Puck News reported that Licht is considering dismissing Jim Acosta and Brianna Keilar from the network, although a report in the New York Post from late last month suggested that Acosta was safe — for now.
The Daily Mail reported last week that staffers at the network, which is trying to become more nonpartisan, “fear a network-wide purge” of “woke” talent at the company.
“People are freaked out,” one CNN journalist said. “It almost feels like there’s a pattern. Is there a purge going on? They seem to be sending a message: ‘Watch what you say. Watch what you do.’”
“Longtime CNN personalities are disappearing, and the viewers don’t know why,” another CNN employee said. A producer for the network said it was an “unsettling time from top to bottom at CNN” and that no one “is happy right now.”