The CNN+ Collapse is a Fiasco, But Chris Wallace May Walk Away Without a Scratch

As news broke on Thursday that Warner Bros. Discovery is shutting down CNN+ just one month after its launch, pundits and commentators were quick to jump on the smoldering rubble and pick apart the decisions that led to the undeniable debacle. While there is certainly plenty of blame to go around for the $300 million fiasco, at least one media personality has made it out both unscathed and with an all but certain future at CNN: Chris Wallace.

Wallace, the veteran D.C. reporter and longtime host of Fox News Sunday, made the move to CNN+ after a highly publicized exit from Fox News. Ahead of Wallace’s debut on CNN+, he spoke at length in the media about why he left Fox News, saying his time there had become “unsustainable.”

“I just no longer felt comfortable with the programming at Fox,” Wallace told the New York Times in late March.

“I’m fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion,” Wallace added. “But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable.”

“I spent a lot of 2021 looking to see if there was a different place for me to do my job,” Wallace noted before explaining that CNN+ appealed to him as streaming offered the freedom to conduct long interviews in any format of his choosing.

Wallace’s CNN+ program, Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace, featured “conversations across the spectrum of news, sports, entertainment and culture” and drew big names like White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, Ken Burns, and director James Cameron.

Wallace’s interviews rarely left anything on the floor and, as he did for years on Fox News, the journalist pulled no punches in asking uncomfortable questions.

Wallace’s interview with 1619 Project author Nikole Hannah-Jones grabbed headlines across the media world and elevated Wallace back into the public’s consciousness. Wallace pushed back hard on Hannah-Jones for claiming the greatest generation was responsible for “brutally suppressing democracy” for Black people. He also asked Hannah-Jones what she would say to White parents who are upset she is “telling my kids that we’re all racist.”

The interview, which was largely civil and ended with clear mutual respect between guest and host, struck such a nerve it even elicited comments from rival hosts as MSNBC hosts Joy Reid, Tiffany Cross, and Lawrence O’Donnell all took to Twitter to denounce it – the ultimate sign of relevance.

And relevance is exactly what CNN is looking to recapture these days. The network, which saw a big boost in ratings in the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has been struggling in recent weeks to get any show to bring in over a million viewers – a feat easily achieved by Fox News and MSNBC in prime time.

Additionally, CNN still has a major gap in its prime time lineup as the 9 p.m. hour vacated by anchor Chris Cuomo remains without a permanent host.

CNN’s new president, Chris Licht, is set to take the helm on May 2, and filling that slot is likely to be one of his first major announcements. We already have some idea how Licht plans to manage the iconic news network.

“Under new chief Chris Licht, CNN will dial down the prime-time partisanship and double down on the network’s news-gathering muscle, top sources tell me,” wrote Axios’ Mike Allen when Licht’s hiring was announced back in February.

Licht, who is leaving his role as executive producer of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert to take over CNN, has a strong news background, having served as vice president of programming at CBS News and launched MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

If his background is any indication, Licht will certainly try and hold onto Wallace, whose journalistic chops are considered among the best in the business. Wallace’s veteran status and Fox News background also give him added credibility in reporting on the right – a commodity that is in high demand across mainstream media these days.

As CNN+ staffers, many of whom gave up other jobs to join the streamer that was meant to take CNN into a new age, scramble to decide what is next, it’s hard to imagine we don’t see a quick return of Wallace to the air. The only question will be, does Wallace land at 9 p.m. or will he perhaps make a return to Sundays? Either way, CNN letting him go seems exceedingly unlikely.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.