CNN staffers brace for Paramount CEO's potential plan to launch editorial board to oversee network
CNN staffers don't all appear to be enthusiastic about the idea of an editorial board overseeing the network if and when Paramount takes over its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
Fox News Digital confirmed that Paramount CEO David Ellison is mulling the creation of an editorial board if he takes ownership of CNN, which falls under the WBD umbrella. The editorial board and other potential safeguards would be put in place to "ease concerns over [CNN's] news operation’s independence," according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the internal discussions.
"We always remain open to internal improvements to journalistic integrity," a Paramount spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital spoke with CNN staffers about what they think of the theoretical editorial board.
"I think we'd be fine with one," one CNN staffer reacted. "I mean editorial independence is always a good idea, however it is achieved... My colleagues just want the uncertainty gone."
However, another CNN staffer chalked it up to "throwing spaghetti at a wall," calling a hypothetical editorial board "useless at best, paralyzing at worst."
"I don’t even think it’s serious," the staffer told Fox News Digital. "I think it’s just a daily throw something at the wall to see if it’s enough."
One senior CNN correspondent insists "no one" at the network has confidence that it will maintain its independence even if an editorial board is installed, pointing to the chumminess between the Ellisons and President Donald Trump. David Ellison's billionaire father — Oracle founder Larry Ellison — is a close ally of Trump who is financially backing the deal.
CNN STAFFERS SEE PARAMOUNT MERGER AS 'INEVITABLE' DESPITE LEGAL BATTLE DELAYING ELLISON TAKEOVER
"As of now, it's impossible to have confidence when the White House and President Trump himself refer to the Ellisons as friends and says he's looking forward to a change in leadership," they said.
"Ellison seems to say whatever is necessary to get the merger across the finish line," the correspondent added, saying that the delay in the merger had brought a "sigh of relief" in the newsroom for the time being. "It felt at CNN as though everything was frozen — from hiring to talking about the future when the deal was imminent. Now, it feels slightly more normal."
Notably, CNN CEO Mark Thompson, whose future at the network remains unclear if the merger goes through, previously floated an independent board as a barrier between CNN and Paramount, similar to ones established for British news organizations, according to Semafor and CNN's Brian Stelter.
A spokesperson for CNN declined to comment.
There has been speculation that California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the antitrust lawsuit hoping to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, wants Ellison to sell CNN in order for him to bless the deal in the Golden State, something Bonta has denied. However, as the Journal noted, the idea of the editorial board came before Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general filed the lawsuit.
The trial for the suit is scheduled for next March, and Paramount is hoping to settle before then so the $111 billion merger goes through. Ellison has floated the company leaving California amid the merger fight.
PARAMOUNT-WARNER BROS DISCOVERY ANTITRUST TRIAL DATE SET; MERGER PUT ON PAUSE OVER LEGAL BATTLE
Paramount's bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery would be a historic deal merging two major Hollywood studios under one corporate umbrella as well as all of their television networks, including CBS and CNN. Critics of the deal believe such a merger would crush the entertainment industry and lead to mass layoffs. Some have also been vocal against the deal due to the Ellison-Trump relationship.
Liberal critics in particular also claim that, as a result of the deal, CNN would be given a MAGA-bent to its coverage, and it would be run by current CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who has been criticized by some media liberals. The Paramount CEO has previously assured that CNN would maintain editorial independence following the merger.
In a guest essay published in The New York Times, Ellison 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."