Happy Wednesday, I’m Dylan Byers.

Welcome back to In The Room, my biweekly private email revealing the inner workings of the media industry. Tonight, a deeper look at Chris Licht’s Stelter sacrifice—including some details from their private meeting—and what it portends for the future of CNN.

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Stelter, a veteran media reporter-turned-cable news broadcaster, who has a keen understanding of the industry that he both operates in and covers, was likely crestfallen when CNN chairman and C.E.O. Chris Licht told him he would be forced to leave the network. But he couldn’t have been wholly surprised, either. Stelter was surely savvy enough to know that his reputation as an occasionally sanctimonious media watchdog, who regularly railed against Trump and Fox News, didn’t align with the new parent company’s mandate to steer the network away from polarizing programming and liberal bias. He was probably also on edge about the fact that, according to several sources, he had a hard time getting a meeting with Licht during the first weeks of the new boss’s tenure—even as Licht was meeting regularly with other on-air talent. And indeed, two sources told me, Stelter had been told several weeks before his ouster that Reliable Sources might be on the chopping block. (Stelter declined a request for an interview.)...