{"id":496324,"date":"2026-02-28T21:51:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/496324\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T21:51:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T21:51:12","slug":"tappers-reaction-says-it-all-as-cnn-staffers-report-panic-over-possible-new-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/496324\/","title":{"rendered":"Tapper’s reaction says it all as CNN staffers report panic over possible new boss"},"content":{"rendered":"

CNN host Jake Tapper\u2019s reaction summed it up on Thursday when he told viewers the future of the network was affected by the decision of Netflix<\/a> to back out of buying the cable channel\u2019s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some breaking news in our national lead that affects everybody I\u2019m looking at right now in the studio,\u201d he said as he turned his head to look around the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoments ago, Netflix<\/a> said it is declining to raise its offer for the purchase of Warner Bros. Studios and HBO, following the Warner Bros. Discovery board\u2019s determination that Paramount, which is not just going for Warner Bros. Studios and HBO, but also the whole enchilada, including us here at CNN.<\/p>\n

\u201cParamount has submitted a superior offer<\/a>, according to Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s board. As I\u2019ve noted, Warner Bros. Discovery is the\u00a0parent company of CNN<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix dropped its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Thursday after the company announced Paramount\u2019s latest bid to buy all of its assets<\/a>, including CNN, was \u201csuperior.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sale<\/a> would put Paramount CEO David Ellison in charge of CNN. <\/p>\n

CNN host Jake Tapper told viewers the future of the network was affected by the decision of Netflix to back out of buying the cable channel\u2019s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some breaking news in our national lead that affects everybody I\u2019m looking at right now in the studio,\u201d Tapper said. CNN<\/p>\n

Ellison has a close relationship with President Donald Trump and has angered liberals for installing\u00a0Bari Weiss<\/a>\u00a0as editor-in-chief of CBS News.<\/p>\n

The mood inside CNN was \u201chorrific\u201d<\/a>\u00a0on Friday as network leadership sought to calm fears of anxious staffers worried about the possible corporate merger.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mood is horrific,\u201d a CNN insider told\u00a0Fox News Digital. \u201cPeople are very upset.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A second CNN insider said staffers feel<\/a> \u201ca mix of despair, apprehension and curiosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I think this is a place that has gone through a lot. A lot of mergers in the past decade. A lot of \u2018fresh\u2019 starts,\u201d the insider said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is an underlying fear of mixing two news divisions. Who is gonna get canned?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mood is horrific,\u201d a CNN insider told\u00a0Fox News Digital. \u201cPeople are very upset.\u201d Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n

Netflix dropped its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery Thursday after the company announced Paramount\u2019s latest bid to buy all of its assets. ZUMAPRESS.com<\/p>\n

While most corporate mergers of this magnitude come with headcount reductions, many CNN staffers are well aware that CBS News has undergone both layoffs and directional changes since Ellison took over last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Weiss, who was handpicked by Ellison,\u00a0has bluntly told staffers they are \u201cnot producing a product that enough people want.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

She has also taken steps to tamp down the liberal slant that was prominent at CBS News before\u00a0the Ellison takeover<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CNN host Jake Tapper\u2019s reaction summed it up on Thursday when he told viewers the future of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[100518,4,450,15284,451,24196,10815,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-496324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-bari-weiss","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-cnn","tag-headlines","tag-jake-tapper","tag-media","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}