Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Jane Fraser-led Citigroup plans to expand in China, the WNBA would consider playing games in Saudi Arabia, and women are now running all the major U.S. news networks following Chris Licht's exit from CNN. Have a great Thursday!
- Top story. All week, the media has been fixated on one industry story: the fate of CNN. After a damning profile in The Atlantic, CEO Chris Licht was ousted from his role leading the network yesterday.
CNN announced that Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent and content development, and Virginia Moseley, executive vice president of editorial, will be part of a trio to lead the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned network as it searches for a replacement CEO.
That announcement results in a notable milestone: All major U.S. news networks are now led or co-led by women. Besides CNN's new leaders, there's Kimberly Godwin at ABC News; Rashida Jones at MSNBC, Rebecca Blumenstein at NBC News; Wendy McMahon at CBS News; and Suzanne Scott at Fox News.
As my colleague Jane Thier points out in a Fortune story, women's leadership in news extends beyond TV. We can't forget New York Times CEO Meredith Kopit Levien, Washington Post editor-in-chief Sally Buzbee, Wall Street Journal editor Emma Tucker, or female leaders at Reuters, Fortune, and McClatchy. Most of these execs have gotten their jobs within the past few years.
News media is an industry with influence beyond its size. These CEOs and presidents are not Fortune 500 leaders, but their decisions shape the public's understanding of the world we live in every day. It's also an industry that was rocked by #MeToo, from the end of Les Moonves's reign at CBS to the firings of prominent journalists like Charlie Rose and Mark Halperin.
The hope is that the women running news organizations will elevate stories and perspectives that may have been overlooked in the past.
Jones, who heads MSNBC, reflected on leading a cable network at a Fortune Most Powerful Women dinner just last month. "How do I have an imprint on the industry where there are other women and especially women of color, who see that this is a thing that is possible to do?" Jones said she has asked herself in the two-and-a-half years since she began her job.
Entellis and Moseley's new jobs at CNN are reminiscent of a "glass cliff;" they were only given the positions, on an interim basis, after their white male boss flamed out in dramatic fashion. CNN's ratings are at a low; the network has a long way to go to win back viewers and the trust of its employees, many of whom questioned Licht's tenure and his execution of a May town hall with Donald Trump.
As the network's new shepherds step into chaotic circumstances, at least there are plenty of female peers (and competitors) in their industry to turn to for guidance. A few years ago, that would have seemed like a TV show fantasy.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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