Anderson Cooper has pressed his Trumpy new boss, Oracle nepo baby David Ellison, with tough questions after the entertainment mogul completed his monumental media merger on Tuesday.
The CNN anchor led a town hall Q&A with Ellison after the $110 billion merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery closed to create Skydance Corp—named after Ellison’s own studio.
During the roughly hour-long session, Cooper, who departed CBS’s 60 Minutes after clashing with the Ellison-appointed CBS News boss Bari Weiss, grilled the Skydance CEO on his family’s ties to President Donald Trump.
Cooper also pressed Ellison on whether he will seek to “make changes” at CNN, as Trump hinted earlier this year.
“I want to start with a smaller part of this company, but it’s going to cause you headaches: news,” Cooper, 59, said, according to the New York Post. “Asking for a friend—or frenemies, I’m not sure.”
He continued, “Are there changes you want to see in coverage at CNN? Are there lessons you do or don’t want to apply from CBS News?”
Ellison, 43, replied that he believes “deeply in journalism,” and that “truth-based, fact-based, bipartisan news that informs the public has never been more important.”
Ellison said the work of both media organizations under his ownership, CBS News and CNN, is “vital to democracy” and that he supports it. He said he also plans “to scale and transition the business digitally.”
“As it relates to editorial, we believe in complete and total editorial independence,” he added.
Regarding the current leadership, Ellison said, “We trust Mark, we trust the team.” He was referring to CNN CEO Mark Thompson, who will continue to lead the network.
“You’re pledging to not interfere with news coverage of CNN?” Cooper asked, to which Ellison affirmed.
“Do you stand by CNN and our effort to restore access to completely cover President Trump?” Cooper asked next, alluding to the network’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict its access to the White House.
Ellison replied, “Of course.”
Ellison and his co-CEO, Ynon Kreiz, hinted in a memo Tuesday morning that the merger would also bring a wave of layoffs, saying the new integration “will bring change, including difficult decisions that affect our workforce,” Variety reported.
Ellison addressed the possibility of layoffs at the town hall.
“There will be changes, and there will be impacts. I’m not going to pretend otherwise,” Ellison said, according to Deadline. “What I can promise you is that we will move through those decisions as quickly and thoughtfully as we can.”
