{"id":697707,"date":"2026-05-27T19:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/697707\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T19:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T19:02:08","slug":"hundreds-sign-letter-warning-paramount-takeover-of-cnn-will-lead-to-improper-political-meddling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/697707\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds Sign Letter Warning Paramount Takeover Of CNN Will Lead To ‘Improper Political Meddling’"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 200 journalists, academics and filmmakers have signed a letter<\/a> warning that Paramount Skydance\u2019s proposed merger<\/a> with Warner Bros. Discovery will lead to \u201cimproper political meddling\u201d at CNN<\/a> similar to the \u201csweeping changes\u201d made at CBS<\/a> designed to \u201cappease\u201d President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The bombshell intervention from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, first reported by Status<\/a>, raises concerns about about Paramount CEO David Ellison<\/a>, the son of Trump ally Larry Ellison<\/a>, and his apparently cozy relationship<\/a> with the current administration.<\/p>\n

Last month, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted to back the $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance. Antitrust regulators are yet to approve the deal.<\/p>\n

The blockbuster move is set to transform the entertainment landscape by uniting two major Hollywood studios, and streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount+.<\/p>\n

But the letter argues the merger will also have far-reaching implications for the news business, as it brings CNN and CBS under one roof, and highlights a Wall Street Journal report<\/a> suggesting David Ellison promised Trump \u201csweeping changes\u201d at CNN if the merger is approved.<\/p>\n

The letter claims Ellison \u201calready made such sweeping changes to appease Trump\u201d at CBS News after Skydance merged with Paramount last year, and points to the installation of \u201cTrump-aligned columnist\u201d Bari Weiss<\/a> as CBS News editor-in-chief.<\/p>\n

Of Ellison\u2019s tenure at CBS, the missive says: \u201cNews segments critical of Trump policies have been pulled; revered producers and reporters have quit rather than be censored; shows Trump dislikes, like \u2018The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,\u2019 have been cancelled; and CBS Evening News has taken to airing flattering features on Trump officials, like one calling Secretary of State Marco Rubio the \u2018ultimate Florida man<\/a>.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWith this track record, Ellison will likely alter CNN\u2019s editorial direction (not to mention meddle with HBO\u2019s documentaries) to be more friendly to the administration, threatening press freedom,\u201d the letter adds.<\/p>\n

The written warning goes on to argue that regulators and lawmakers should treat the proposed tie-up as a \u201cpolitical arrangement to circumvent constitutional safeguards, with severe consequences for American democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the signatories is former CNN anchor Jim Acosta, former ABC and CBS News correspondent Judy Muller, and Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras.<\/p>\n

David Ellison, who reportedly<\/a> \u201chonored\u201d the president at an \u201cintimate\u201d dinner last month, has previously addressed the fears about what Paramount\u2019s takeover would mean for CNN.<\/p>\n

\u201cEditorial independence will actually be maintained,\u201d he told CNBC<\/a> in March. \u201cIt\u2019s maintained at CBS, it\u2019ll be maintained at CNN.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 200 journalists, academics and filmmakers have signed a letter warning that Paramount Skydance\u2019s proposed merger with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[135126,49,48,30878,19593,18027,75,40416,9489,348],"class_list":["post-697707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bari-weiss","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cbs-news","tag-cnn","tag-david-ellison","tag-entertainment","tag-freedom-of-the-press","tag-paramount","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}