The mood inside CNN has reportedly become “like a funeral” after Paramount cleared the final legal obstacle to its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Paramount reached a settlement with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general, ending their attempt to block the massive merger. The agreement clears the way for Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison to take control of Warner Bros. Discovery and its cable networks, including CNN.
According to Variety, CNN employees are now bracing for an uncertain future under Paramount.
Their reported reaction also lends support to an argument Ellison made throughout the legal battle: Opposition to the deal was partly driven by concerns about his eventual control of CNN.
Ellison Said CNN Was Always Part of the Fight
In August, Ellison argued that the lawsuit was not truly about Paramount’s potential market power.
“I believe this fight is not really about market share,” Ellison wrote in a New York Times op-ed, according to The Washington Post.
David Ellison in an interview with Bloomberg – YouTube, Bloomberg Podcasts
Instead, he claimed the underlying question was “whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN.”
Bonta emphatically rejected that suggestion.
When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked how much the lawsuit had to do with the network, Bonta answered, “Zero.” He subsequently called CNN “not a focus” and described discussion of the network as irrelevant.
CNN Included in the Final Settlement
Despite Bonta’s categorical denial, CNN ultimately became part of the final settlement.
Under the five-year agreement, Paramount must establish a five-member News Editorial Independence Board overseeing both CNN and CBS News. Its members must be current or former journalists with at least 10 years of experience.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta – YouTube, KCRA 3
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The board is intended to preserve editorial independence and ensure what Bonta described as “independent, objective, fact-based reporting” at both networks.
That requirement makes Bonta’s previous insistence that CNN had “zero” to do with the dispute particularly difficult to reconcile with the final outcome. Whatever the lawsuit’s original antitrust arguments, concerns about Ellison’s stewardship of CNN became important enough to produce a court-enforceable settlement provision.
CNN Staffers Fear Another Strategic Overhaul
CNN employees are reportedly worried about more than potential editorial changes.
Staffers also fear Paramount will once again overhaul the network’s business strategy just as its current leadership attempts to build a digital subscription business.
“What an enormous loss and disruption it would be to shuffle leadership for the umpteenth time in the midst—finally—of reshaping the business,” one employee told Variety.
A news broadcast on CNN – YouTube, CNN
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CNN has experienced repeated leadership changes and strategic pivots in recent years. However, its continuing ratings problems give Paramount an obvious reason to reconsider the existing approach.
CNN Remains a Distant Third in Viewership
During the week of September 7, CNN averaged only 490,000 total primetime viewers, according to Nielsen data reported by Adweek’s TVNewser. Fox News averaged 1.783 million, while MS NOW attracted 689,000.
CNN therefore remained in third place among the major cable news networks, trailing Fox News by nearly 1.3 million primetime viewers. Its audience also declined five percent from the previous week.
Ellison’s critics may remain concerned about what his ownership means for CNN’s political coverage. Yet a network falling that far behind its competitors should hardly expect its new owner to leave everything untouched.
The reported funeral atmosphere suggests employees recognize that significant changes may be coming. Meanwhile, the mandated editorial board indicates that Ellison was right about at least one thing: Trust in his stewardship of CNN became part of the fight, despite Bonta’s earlier denial.
Why do you think the mood at CNN is “like a funeral” after Paramount’s settlement? Sound off and let us know!
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