David Ellison, the chief executive of the newly formed media conglomerate Skydance, denied that he has \u201cpoliticized\u201d the company despite the close connection he has forged with Donald Trump\u2019s White House over the 20 months of his administration.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a good relationship with this administration,\u201d Ellison acknowledged to reporters at a Tuesday press briefing focused on the now-consummated merger of Paramount Skydance and CNN<\/a> parent company Warner Bros Discovery.<\/p>\n \u201cI also had a really good relationship with President Biden. I have a good relationship with [Republican South Carolina senator] Tim Scott, and I have a good relationship with Governor Gavin Newsom. I think it is important to talk to everybody on both sides of the aisle \u2026 When you\u2019re operating within a business-friendly administration, you should always have those relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to speak to everybody,\u201d Ellison added. \u201cWe do not want to politicize the company.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about his conversations with Trump about CNN, Ellison did not directly discuss his communications with the president, the network\u2019s most prominent critic. But he said he wanted to clarify that \u201cwe have not talked to any political leader of any party about news, other than to say that we want to be in the truth business and we want to be in the trust business. And we believe in complete editorial independence.\u201d<\/p>\n Amid concerns about whether Ellison might move CNN in a more rightward editorial direction, he said that both the cable news network and CBS News would be \u201ccompletely editorially independent\u201d, echoing a message he delivered earlier in the day<\/a> during a town hall meeting with company employees.<\/p>\n Ellison also gave an endorsement to the two leaders he has tapped to continue running the two news networks networks he now controls, CNN chief executive Mark Thompson and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss.<\/p>\n