Happy Friday, and welcome back to In The Room, my biweekly private email on the inner-workings of the American media. Today, we go back inside CNN to unpack Chris Licht’s first major programming play: a supposedly “game changing,” “mass appeal” morning show with Don Lemon at the center.

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It has been a fraught effort so far, and one that has created a great deal of sturm und drang at the network, as apprehensive talent nervously try to appease the new boss while critics hyperventilate about what they fear is a reversion to neutered journalism and anodyne both-sidesism. There’s ample evidence that CNN’s journalism is not being neutered, of course—they continue to hold both Republicans and Democrats to account, report admirably on the war in Ukraine, and the tragically incessant school shootings deviling our country. But whatever one makes of Licht’s efforts, it’s undeniable that his early tenure has been defined by a painfully drawn-out tweaking of the existing infrastructure, rather than a bold, creative reimagining...