In an interview with Los Angeles Times reporter Stephen Battaglio, Licht discussed a number of the changes he’s implemented at CNN since taking over, which includes Bill Maher’s Overtime segment for Real Time with Bill Maher airing this week on the network for the first time and an open invitation for Republicans to give the network a chance.

Licht said despite reports he was looking to add comedy to CNN’s primetime and the addition of Maher; he’s not looking to hire a comedian to beef up the ratings.

“There is nothing wrong with opinion or perspective, especially in prime time, but it has to be authentic. We are completely uninterested in partisan hackery and ideological talking points,” he said.

[“Completely uninterested”? Has Licht ever met Don Lemon? More seriously, Chris Licht has problems that adding Maher won’t solve, and not least because Maher is coming on too late to matter. He should steer clear of the partisanship that brands both his cable-net rivals, but he needs to figure out how to create compelling content using some other strategy. What he’s doing right now is not working. — Ed]