Paramount’s CEO said CNN viewers should expect the network to get the same treatment that CBS News did when his company takes over Warner Bros.
During an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Trump’s buddy David Ellison was asked directly about “fears” that his company’s acquisition of Warner Bros. means CNN will get its own CBS-like MAGA makeover.
“Editorial independence will absolutely be maintained,” Ellison said Thursday, “It’s maintained at CBS, it’ll be maintained at CNN.”
Ellison installed Trump-fan Bari Weiss as head of CBS News after Skydance acquired CBS’s parent company, Paramount, last year.
Since Ellison’s Skydance took over Paramount, however, CBS has become much friendlier to Trump, with Weiss kicking off her tenure by censoring stories the Trump administration wouldn’t like and launching a Town Hall series featuring Trumpy characters Erika Kirk and JD Vance. She also installed MAGA-coded anchor Tony Dokupil as the network’s Evening News anchor and has been called out by staffers who chafe against her “clearly defined political agenda.”
CNN staffers are “panicking,” according to several reports, which quote network employees as saying, in sum, “We are f---ed” now that Paramount has successfully outbid Netflix to purchase its parent company.
When asked about those reports on Thursday, Ellison told CNBC, “CNN is an incredible brand with an incredible team, and we absolutely believe in the independence that needs to be maintained, obviously, for those incredible journalists. And we want to support that going forward.”
He added, “Really, who we want to talk to is the 70 percent of Americans, and really around the world, that identify as center-left and center-right. And we want to be in the truth business. We want to be in the trust business, and that’s not going to change.”
But Ellison’s critics are unlikely to have their concerns assuaged. Jon Stewart quipped that CNN may soon do broadcasts with “gold cherubs” in the background, referencing Trump’s penchant for lavish baby angels. HBO’s Last Week Tonight host John Oliver said Sunday that Ellison’s takeover was “not great news” and joked his anti-Trump show could be canceled.
Ellison, whose father is billionaire Larry Ellison, reportedly told Trump administration officials he would make major changes at CNN if Paramount succeeds in its hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery—something Trump has wanted for a long time.
Netflix’s offer for the company’s streaming and studio assets was initially accepted, until a conservative think tank launched an attack that painted the streamer as a vehicle of “left-wing ideological dogma” in Washington. Paramount, meanwhile, put together even more money to throw at the deal, including by tapping the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi.
Trump also showed his influence over the Paramount CEO when the company greenlit an oft-rejected installment of the president’s favorite movie franchise, Rush Hour 4, from blacklisted Melania director Brett Ratner.
As for CNN, Ellison did not deny there would be job cuts on Thursday. “We will absolutely have to rationalize the overall corporate overhead of the company,” he said.
Ultimately, he concluded, “We’re going to invest in the news business. And we think this transaction will be a positive for both CBS News and CNN.”
