Is this the end of CNN's left-wing bias? Billionaire Trump donor, who is the largest shareholder of the network's new owner Discovery, wants to restore it to impartiality - and INSISTED on Jeff Zucker's departure after his affair was exposed

 CNN's left-wing bias may become a thing of the past when it is spun off to Discovery later this year, with the largest shareholder of the network's new owners eager to restore it to impartiality. 

John Malone, a billionaire Trump donor, is the CEO of Liberty Media, Discovery's largest shareholder. He retains a 25 percent voting share in Discovery, which will take control of WarnerMedia and its assets -  including CNN - later this year.  

With Jeff Zucker gone, that seems more likely than ever. 

It's unclear which political direction Discovery CEO David Zaslav wants to take the network in. On Friday morning, he shocked CNBC hosts by calling the network 'the leader of news to the left'. 

Mediaite interpreted his remark as a reference to the political left however he has since clarified that he was talking about the 'left' side of the company portfolio, with sports being on the 'right'. 

On CNBC, he refused to talk about the scandal, but said: 'Jeff is a good friend of mine. I can't speak to this issue. We don't own the company yet. In terms of CNN+ we couldn't be more excited about the fact that they've been hiring great journalists.'  

Billionaire John Malone, who has made no secret of his dislike of CNN under Zucker's leadership, is said to have made it clear corporate policies must be followed after it was revealed CNN's president Jeff Zucker had not disclosed a workplace relationship

CNN staffers and media insiders are speculating over why WarnerMedia bosses and AT&T chiefs really wanted him gone, since the affair was an 'open-secret' for years. 

One theory centers around AT&T's deal to sell WarnerMedia - which owns CNN - to Discovery. The $43billion deal is almost done, after years of attempts by AT&T to spin the network off. 

Under the merger, WarnerMedia and Discovery will become one new media powerhouse - Warner Bros. Discovery. Zucker was meant to keep a key role in the new company. 

Malone is a supporter of Zucker's most emboldened enemy, Donald Trump. He donated $250,000 to Trump's inauguration in 2017 and has made no secret of the fact that he, like Trump and millions of others, think CNN has become too left-wing and biased. 

 'I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing

'I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,' he told CNBC in 2019.  

'I do believe good journalism could have a role in this future portfolio that Discovery-TimeWarner's going to represent.' 

Deadline reported last night that it was Malone who insisted on Zucker's departure after learning of the affair. 

'Discovery's largest shareholder, John Malone, a critic of CNN, made it known that corporate procedures had to be followed to the letter in regards to Zucker, we hear,' Deadline reported on Wednesday.

'Being that WarnerMedia's standards of business conduct require disclosure of relationships that develop with a boss and subordinate, Zucker's goose was officially cooked,' the report added.

Zucker and Allison Gollust had worked together for 20 years. The pair claim their relationship turned romantic during the pandemic but others say it far predates COVID, and was common knowledge for as many as eight years.

Zucker stepped down on Wednesday, admitting he was 'wrong' not to have told the company about the relationship. 

For legal reasons, Discovery must avoid getting involved with WarnerMedia until the deal has been approved by the U.S. government. 

However, in November last year after news of the impending merger was announced, Malone made it clear that he was not a fan of the direction CNN had gone in under Zucker, who took the helm in 2013. 

AT&T bought WarnerMedia (formerly Time Warner) in 2018 for $84billion. It was a disastrous deal that the telecoms giant has been trying to unwind for years. It, finally, is now in the finalizing stage of a $43billion sale of WarnerMedia to Discovery.

According to Puck media reporter Dylan Byers, Zucker and Gollust were due to take on senior roles within the new company, under the leadership of Discovery CEO David Zaslav. 

But speculation has been growing over whether Zucker was forced out at CNN over his open-secret affair not because bosses had any real issue with it, but because the scandal of it and his ongoing war with Chris Cuomo could have threatened AT&T's deal with Discovery. 

It has also been reported that Gollust and Zucker were privately advising former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo through the pandemic - a huge breach of ethics. 

According to sources cited by Rolling Stone on Thursday, the pair breached journalism ethics to help Cuomo behind the scenes in the same way that his younger brother Chris did. 

Chris was fired from CNN for helping Andrew through a sexual misconduct scandal and in the messy fallout from his departure, the affair between Zucker and Gollust has surfaced.  

Allison Gollust, whom CNN President Jeff Zucker was in a relationship with is seen arriving at her Manhattan apartment late on Thursday night 

Gollust admitted the pair's relationship saying it had 'blossomed' during the pandemic. CNN insiders said it had been an open secret for eight years

An ongoing investigation at CNN that was focused on Chris's departure has now, according to Rolling Stone's sources, also found that Gollust - who worked for Andrew previously - and Zucker were actively consulting the Democratic Governor and advising him. 

It could help explain how Andrew Cuomo became an overnight, international sensation. 

He held daily, televised press briefings that CNN aired in full, often devoting over an hour of uninterrupted airtime to the updates, and appeared on his younger brother's evening show, reportedly at Gollust and Zucker's behest. 

He and Trump - Zucker's famous enemy - would trade insults in the press and according to the Rolling Stone article on Thursday, Zucker and Gollust gave the New York Governor some of the material to fight the then President. 

The stardom won Cuomo an Emmy and an army of fans who begged him to run for President.  

Chris Cuomo, who was fired in December for inappropriately consulting his brother about sexual harassment claims, was the one who raised the affair to executives. 

Jeff Zucker and Andrew Cuomo are pictured with actress Tina Fey in 2008. New reports suggest Zucker was advising Cuomo on how to handle the COVID-19 crisis in New York when it hit, and helped turn him into an international star

Byers writes that it is likely AT&T boss John Stankey insisted on Zucker's departure after learning of it. By getting rid of Cuomo, too, AT&T does not have to pay Chris Cuomo the $18million he claims he is entitled to.

'No matter what he thought of Zucker or Kilar, Stankey surely had no appetite for tolerating any scandal that might scuttle the impending WarnerMedia-Discovery deal. 

'And so in the end, now both Kilar and Zucker will soon be in search of new jobs.' 

Meanwhile, fired CNN anchor Cuomo, who was hoping to secure the $18million lump sum payout following his departure last year, has been told to set his sights lower, with him unlikely to receive anything more than around $9million from the cable news network.

AT&T, CNN's parent company, is said to be in negotiations to reach a deal that would see the fired anchor receive half of the $18million he had been vying for before Jeff Zucker's unexpected resignation Wednesday.

Fired CNN anchor Chris Cuomo is to receive a payout of $9million rather than the $18million he had been hoping for

The news of a possible settlement emerged as the CNN employee and lover who led to Zucker's  downfall, Allison Gollust, was seen arriving at her luxury Manhattan apartment late Thursday night looking distinctly sullen. 

Gollust's expression was a far cry from the happy mood she was in last November when she was photographed at a Billy Joel concert with Zucker by her side - and alleged to have forced the powerful media maven to 'come forward' and resign 'not willingly.'

Sources say that Cuomo was planning to come forward with a lawsuit that would have detailed how Zucker and Gov. Andrew Cuomo had a far deeper relationship than had ever previously been explained. 

One allegation suggests the disgraced governor received one-to-one media coaching for his popular pandemic press conferences from Zucker and his second-in command, Gollust. 

Cuomo may still refuse AT&T's lowball offer and potentially file his suit, a source told the New York Post. A representative for Cuomo’s attorneys declined to comment. 

He was forced out in December after he helped his brother, Andrew, deal with a sex scandal without being fully open as to the lengths he was going to his aid. 

Chris was to looking to get paid out for the remainder of his contract, but Zucker was sticking firm and refusing, arguing that he brought the network into disrepute.

However, Zucker's sudden exit after nine years as CNN's leader means the goalposts have now shifted once again.

Zucker said he was leaving for violating corporate policy by not disclosing the nature of his relationship with Gollust, but he was reportedly given no choice by WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who characterized the change as his decision at a meeting with CNN Washington staff members on Wednesday night. 

Zucker appeared to fall on his sword in the hopes of keeping a possible lawsuit by Cuomo from being made public, according to the New York Post.  

'Jeff cut a deal to say 'I'll leave, and you [At&T] settle with Cuomo,'' one source told The Post. 'He thought AT&T would fight a lawsuit and it would go public otherwise.'

If Cuomo were to file his lawsuit and AT&T decided to contest it, potentially damaging information about Zucker may have been made public. 

Zucker's departure essentially blunts any allegations that Cuomo may have come forward with, or as is preferred by CNN, to be kept from the public altogether. 

Zucker and Gollust are said to have also had an 'ethically dubious' relationship with  the former New York governor.

The pair are said to have coached the 64-year-old governor on how to best present his daily Covid briefings during the pandemic.

The duo are even said to have fed him lines to use when responding to criticism by President Donald Trump in order for it to make for compelling television. 

CNN still needs to find a replacement for Chis Cuomo in its primetime lineup, and is currently going with a series of substitutes.

Zucker recently approached Gayle King for the job before she decided to re-sign with CBS News.

The television network's viewership has dropped dramatically in the past year. 

News ratings have always been cyclical, and the 2020 election brought record numbers of people in, but there's always the question of when, or if, they will come back.

CNN is also coming off a contentious period where Trump frequently referred to the network as 'fake news.'  

CNN on-air personnel under Zucker, like chief domestic correspondent and pundit Acosta, have become much more opinionated and that hasn't always been popular.

'It's interesting to see if that culture is going to shift with new leadership,' said Jennifer Thomas, a Howard University journalism professor who worked at CNN as a producer in the 2000s.

Some people, like Thomas, have called for a reset. One is influential cable executive John Malone, a top stockholder in Discovery, said on CNBC in November 'I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with.'