Click here to read the full article.
Every day, governments, newsmakers and politicians scrutinize the news reporting of CNN. Paramount Skydance wants to add to the list.
The media conglomerate, whose efforts to acquire CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery
have stalled in federal court after a group of 12 attorneys general levied antitrust concerns against the proposed deal, has considered setting up an oversight committee to govern the news giant.
“We always remain open to internal improvements to journalistic integrity,” Paramount said in a statement. The Wall Street Journal previously reported the discussions, but executives at Warner Bros. Discovery considered a similar maneuver when they were working to split Warner’s streaming-and-studio assets from its cable properties last year, before Paramount made a bid for the company.
The belief seems to be that an oversight board would help create the impression that Paramount takes CNN’s journalistic independence seriously, after its installation of entrepreneur and opinion journalist Bari Weiss has created drama and fostered skepticism about the state of CBS News. Weiss’ maneuvers at CBS, in particularher decision to oust top producers and correspondents from the long-running newsmagazine “60 Minutes,” has created controversy and spectacle for which few at the media conglomerate seemed prepared.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has made governance of CNN a central issue in the debate over the Warner pact. “The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN,” Ellison said in an opinion piece written last week for The New York Times. CNN has long been viewed antagonistically by the Trump administration, with President Trump lambasting its journalists many times during his first and second term, including well-known CNN faces like Kaitlan Collins.
There are growing fears within CNNthat the Paramount acquisition would put the news outlet under Weiss’ aegis, leaving it open to programming and talent changes that are seen as being made to placate the current administration in power, rather than holding it to account. Inside CNN, there is a strong concernthat Paramount’s executives “don’t know or don’t care” about managing the news giant for profit or for the future, according to one staffer.
An oversight board could hinder Paramount in what are certain to be future efforts to wring synergies out of a combined company. Merging CBS News and CNN could reduce production and newsgathering costs. And yet, CBS News employs many workers represented by a union, while CNN does not. That dynamic has thwarted previous efforts over the years to combine the two news organizations. An oversight board aimed at ensuring an independent CNN might have a similar effect.
An oversight entity could also not be worth the effort. Rupert Murdoch created a similar structure when he purchased The Wall Street Journal from its longtime owners, the Bancroft family, in 2007 for $5 billion. But there is little mention of such an entity today when the giant news outlet grapples with legal or operational matters. An oversight committee staffed by journalism experts, academics and executives that holds regular meetings with senior operators might have some bite. A group led by a motley group of friends and acquaintances that rarely engages with operating officers might be seen as toothless.
