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A new reality is setting in for CNN’s rank and file as the network will once again have new ownership following Paramount’s merger with its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
“I think people are like, ‘Let’s just get this done,'” one CNN staffer told Fox News Digital.
Paramount’s $111 billion bid to buy WBD overcame its biggest obstacle, which was the antitrust lawsuit spearheaded by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and several other Democratic State AGs. Instead of battling out in court during the March 2027 trial date, both parties reached a settlement Monday, paving the way for Paramount CEO David Ellison to take the reins of two legacy Hollywood studios and two major news organizations — CNN and CBS News — among other assets. Negotiated in the settlement is the implementation of an independent editorial board that will oversee both news outlets.
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Paramount CEO David Ellison is on the cusp of taking over Warner Bros. Discovery, which includes CNN. (Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
There have been several reports of internal strife within the CNN newsroom since the settlement was reached, but at least one network staffer believes the sentiment is more nuanced based on conversations they’ve had with colleagues.
“I think there are fewer people internally opposed to the merger than there used to be,” the CNN staffer said. “People internally just want direction.”
A second CNN staffer disagreed with the notion that they aren’t personally opposed to the merger, telling Fox News Digital, “Nothing has changed about anyone’s views at CNN.”
“If there is that perception, it is coming from the fact that this has been out there for a long time so people are less loud. That shouldn’t be confused with a change of mindset,” they said.
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A lot of unknowns loom over CNN as the merger proceeds. First are the company wide layoffs that are expected to take place that will likely impact CNN. Second is the change in CNN’s leadership — whether its current CEO Mark Thompson will remain or whether Ellison’s appointed CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss will have a new role overseeing both news operations, as reports previously suggested.
“I don’t know who will run CNN,” the second staffer said. “Ellison will have a lot of pressure to make that decision and not to say let Mark Thompson stay on for a little while to not deal with it or fake anybody out. It’s better for his business to make a clean, strong decision and let everybody know.”
It is unclear whether CNN CEO Mark Thompson will continue leading the network once the Paramount-WBD merger is complete. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery)
While they’re glad the Paramount merger brings clarity about the network’s future, the CNN insider is dreading “fairly dramatic” cuts that will ultimately rock the newsroom.
“CNN will be diminished,” the second staffer said. “However, that is already happening macro and micro to us and all other legacy media.”
Representatives for CNN and Paramount declined to comment.
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CNN staffers lament the prospects of Bari Weiss, Ellison’s handpicked editor-in-chief of CBS News, potentially having a role overseeing both networks. (Michele Crowe/CBS News via Getty Images)
Much of the opposition toward the Paramount-WBD merger stemmed from Ellison’s taking control over CNN. Liberal critics claimed that as a result of the deal, CNN would be given a MAGA-bent to its coverage, pointing to Ellison and his billionaire father Larry Ellison’s cozy relationship with President Donald Trump, and worried Ellison’s CNN would be run by CBS News chief Bari Weiss, who has been ostracized by the far-left despite her outspoken left-of-center politics.
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Ellison has previously assured that CNN would maintain editorial independence following the merger. In a guest essay published in The New York Times, the Paramount CEO addressed the “speculation” about what would happen to CNN under his ownership.
“I have regularly voted for candidates of both parties; I hold some views that would be called conservative and others that would be called liberal, just like most Americans; and when it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views. I believe that news should be based on facts and truth,” Ellison wrote.
“Great news organizations like CNN and CBS News are here to tell it straight down the middle,” he added. “That requires newsrooms that reflect the whole world, not one side of it. And it requires independence.”