SEMAFOR: The old media grapples with its new limits.

When Semafor asked what new CEO Mark Thompson thought the election’s results said about the reach and impact of legacy news media, a CNN spokesperson pointed Semafor to several memos the network chief sent out over the last year. In them, Thompson said that “to succeed, we must abandon our preconceptions of the limits of what CNN can be and follow the audience to where they are now and where they will be in the years to come. We will still stand for the same things — video-led breaking news, delivered as it happens with honesty and insight — but with greater flexibility about the how and multiple new forms of monetization to complement existing revenues.” The network’s position is that legacy media will die if it doesn’t transform to meet these audiences.

It isn’t just a problem of reach or distribution. To some media executives, it’s a sign that the quality of news offered to Americans is not satisfying them, a view that Axios founder Jim VandeHei described as “gut-check time for traditional media.”

“The verdict is not debatable: Half the country thinks traditional media is biased and often useless,” he said. “They feel reporters treat Republicans like a crime beat and Democrats like friends in need. I don’t think this is usually the case, but it happens enough to give critics pause.”

It sure does — note that this Semafor column shares a byline between Maxi Tani – and former(?) Journolister Dave Weigel.

Also, note that old media is also grappling with how to break the Mobius Loop it’s trapped itself in for the past twenty years: