Gangel told the meeting that anger over Zucker’s firing has spread to high levels of the U.S. government. “The first calls I got this morning were from four members of the January 6 committee, who felt devastated for our democracy,” she said, “because Jeff was not going to be around to make sure that CNN is able to do its job.” The extensive quotes are possible because someone in the meeting made an audio recording of it and leaked it to the media. (By the way, Gangel later corrected herself; she was contacted by four members of Congress, but only one of them was a member of the January 6 committee.)

To outsiders, it all seemed exceedingly … weird. Perhaps Zucker had treated them well personally; he was known to keep good relations with on-air talent. But aside from its brief shining moment in January 2021, CNN has been in the cellar so long that perhaps some have become unable to imagine that another leader might actually do a better job.