Paramount-Warner Bros. deal stirs fears about what it means for CNN

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As the media manufacture took banal of Paramount Skydance’s startling acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, 1 question lingered connected the minds of galore successful the quality concern and beyond: what volition this mean for CNN?

The iconic 24-hour cablegram quality web is among the assorted Warner Bros. assets that would beryllium scooped up by Paramount successful a woody announced Thursday that could alteration the media landscape.

Paramount has undergone a swift translation nether Chief Executive David Ellison pursuing his family’s acquisition of the institution past summer. These changes reached CBS News astir instantly with the assignment of Bari Weiss, the arguable Free Press co-founder, arsenic its caller exertion successful chief.

Weiss’ tenure truthful acold has been rocky.

Her determination to propulsion a “60 Minutes” communicative astir conditions wrong an El Salvador situation that housed undocumented Venezuelan migrants from the U.S. received wide disapproval and accusations of governmental motivation. The web said the communicative was held for much reporting, and the conception yet aired.

There was much upheaval past week astatine the quality magazine, erstwhile “60 Minutes” analogous and CNN quality anchor Anderson Cooper announced that he’d beryllium leaving to walk much clip with his family.

And earlier this year, a seasoned shaper astatine “CBS Evening News With Tony Dokoupil” was fired aft helium expressed disagreement astir the editorial absorption of the newscast.

Now, the interest is that akin changes could beryllium successful store for CNN, which has agelong been a people of President Trump’s ire. He has personally called for the ouster of hosts astatine the web who person questioned his policies.

CNN Worldwide Chief Executive Mark Thompson tried to quell immoderate of those fears, peculiarly wrong his ain newsroom.

In an interior memo dated Thursday and obtained by The Times, Thompson urged employees not to “jump to conclusions astir the future” and effort to ore connected their work.

“We’re inactive adjacent the commencement of what is already an incredibly newsy twelvemonth astatine location and abroad,” helium wrote successful the note. “Let’s proceed to absorption connected delivering the champion imaginable journalism to the millions of radical who trust connected america each astir the world.”

Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide Mark Thompson and media exertion for Semafor, Maxwell Tani, talk onstage.

CNN declined to remark beyond Thompson’s memo.

Ellison has said his imaginativeness for a quality concern is 1 that is ideologically down the middle.

“We privation to physique a scaled quality work that is basically, fundamentally successful the spot business, that is successful the information business, and that speaks to the 70% of Americans that are successful the middle,” helium said during a Dec. 8 interrogation connected CNBC, soon aft Warner said it had chosen Netflix arsenic the winning bidder for its studios, HBO and HBO Max. “And we judge that by doing truthful that is for us, benignant of doing well, portion doing good.”

Ellison demurred erstwhile asked whether Trump would clasp him arsenic CNN’s owner, fixed the president’s past criticisms of the network.

“We’ve had large conversations with the president astir this, but ... I don’t privation to talk for him successful immoderate way, signifier oregon form,” helium said.

First Amendment scholars person raised concerns astir property state and escaped code rights nether the Trump administration, peculiarly aft past month’s apprehension of erstwhile CNN writer Don Lemon and the Federal Communications Commission’s unit connected late-night hosts similar Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert.

Press state groups person agelong asked questions successful different countries astir however authoritarian regimes usage their powerfulness and “oligarchical alliances to belittle, silence, and punish autarkic journalistic voices, oregon to steer media ownership toward ... a preferred mentation of the truth,” said RonNell Andersen Jones, a 1st Amendment student and distinguished prof successful the assemblage of instrumentality astatine the University of Utah, successful an email.

“We spot them asking astatine slightest immoderate of these questions astir the U.S. today,” she wrote.

Apprehension astir the merger besides extends beyond its implications for CNN and the media business.

Lawmakers specified arsenic Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) person raised concerns astir however the consolidation of 2 large Hollywood studios could impact manufacture jobs and movie and tv accumulation — which has importantly slowed since the pandemic, the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes successful 2023 and firm cutbacks successful spending.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the woody an “antitrust disaster” that she feared could rise prices and bounds choices for consumers.

“With the unreality of corruption looming implicit Trump’s Department of Justice, it’ll beryllium up to the American radical to talk up and authorities attorneys wide to enforce the law,” she said successful a statement.

Already, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta has said the merger isn’t a “done deal,” adding that helium is successful connection with different states attorneys wide astir the issue.

“As the epicenter of the amusement industry, California has a peculiar involvement successful protecting competition,” helium posted Friday connected X.

Ellison addressed immoderate of these concerns successful a connection Friday.

“By bringing unneurotic these world-class studios, our complementary streaming platforms, and the bonzer endowment down them, we volition make adjacent greater worth for audiences, partners and shareholders,” helium said. “We couldn’t beryllium much excited for what’s ahead.”

Times unit writer Meg James contributed to this report.

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