“The piece hit hard. It documented how Licht’s decision-making was misguided, seeming to lack a moral core of journalistic mission, despite the lip service paid to the importance of reporting. And it showed his disconnect with the editorial staff; he was both distant, with an office far from the journalists, and intrusive, making radical personnel moves that played out poorly and engendered an atmosphere of fear and mistrust.” But as Margaret Sullivan explains, Chris Licht could have survived all that an more at CNN if it weren’t for one thing. Ratings. The CNN chief messed up in many ways. Only one of them was fatal. Well, ratings and the related revenue issues. CNN’s Ad Revenue Down Nearly 40%. I know everyone positions CNN’s woes as being part of the political divide and the cable news outrage wars. But, here’s a crazy idea for how CNN could save itself with one dramatic and almost unthinkable change. Start actually reporting news again.