As Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery’s mega-merger hit a legal roadblock. CEO David Ellison is clearing up what he says is a misplaced fear that he will somehow have an oversized influence on CNN after the takeover.
The news group falls into WBD’s news portfolio, so there were concerns that the Paramount head may impose his political views on the network after the deal.
But in the executive view, the latest lawsuit against the merger has more to do with fears of whether he should be trusted to oversee the news company.
To set the record straight, Ellison penned an op-ed in The New York Times, stating that CNN would remain independent and its journalists “will continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve — not to any party or cause.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t give anyone a view into my heart and mind, but I can share this: 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.”
He continued, “Great news organisations like CNN and CBS News are here to tell it straight down the middle.”
“That requires newsrooms that reflect the whole world, not one side of it. And it requires independence.”
Ellison noted, “Our journalists will continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve — not to any party or cause.”
“These were founding principles for both CNN and CBS News, for legends like Ted Turner and Edward R. Murrow, and it is exactly that kind of independence that has always fuelled the greatness of ‘60 Minutes.’”
By now, Ellison pinned hopes on completing the massive $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
However, a legal battle, initiated by a 12-state coalition, is pushing back against his plan to consummate the merger this year.
