> At CNN, Mr Zucker faced criticism from those who believed the network gave too much coverage to the former president, especially during the Republican presidential primary. Mr Trump has also criticised what he saw as unfair coverage.
I will happily argue that affair was just an excuse for other reasons. His coverage was not pro-Trump enough.
Well you could, but considering:
1) Zucker's "too much coverage" that was internally complained about was him trying to be pro-Trump, not anti- (regardless of what the then-still-disgraced former President whined about)
2) his resignation came in 2022 while CNN was still largely free of the right-wing pressure campaign it has been under in the last 18 months pre-merger
3) … in the middle of an internal sex scandal investigation involving someone else, in the #MeToo era, when the company was trying to make it very clear that it would not tolerate such things
I think it would be quite a stretch to make your case.
Jeff Zucker was not even fired for the relationship, but for failing to tell the board about it as company rules said he must.
Again: top CEOs do indeed resign over this stuff. Because it is serious: it opens them up to blackmail and opens the company up to lawsuits.
McDonald's, Intel, CNN, NBC, CBS, Astronomer, Best Buy, Nestlé, Kohl's, Comtech, BP, CBOE, Barclay's.
Not hard to find examples from the last ten years.