Bari Weiss was coy when the information broke Thursday that Netflix had withdrawn from its deliberate acquisition of Warner Bros., leaving the trail open for Paramount Skydance to amass the corporate.
Weiss wrote on X that she’d been at a Free Press debate, and stated, “Nowhere I’d rather be. Though I hear there’s some news?”
The information was that her boss, David Ellison at Paramount Skydance, would seemingly quickly be in cost of not simply CBS, the place Weiss is editor in chief, but in addition NCS, as soon as the regulatory hurdles are cleared.
It was information that was acquired in sure circles with groaning and gnashing of tooth, given Ellison’s friendship with President Donald Trump and his associates.
But others see one thing extra sinister at play, saying that it’s now conservatives who’ve a monopoly on media that should be damaged up.
Weiss’s elevation to the top of CBS News final fall resulted in adjustments on the community that some see as catering to the president, though Weiss says she’s simply in search of equity, and protection for the Americans who’re ideologically from center-left to center-right.
Still, it didn’t take lengthy for individuals to begin predicting doom for NCS, a lot in order that management needed to warning NCS staffers to “keep calm and carry on.” And very similar to the web meme of Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking up each new job that turns into obtainable, some have predicted Weiss will quickly be in cost of NCS and that conservative commentator Scott Jennings would lastly get his personal NCS present.
NCS media analyst Brian Stelter finds himself within the peculiar place of commenting on occasions which may have an effect on his personal job. He has continued to put in writing on it, saying in a particular version of his e-newsletter, “Anxieties are running high. It’s an especially fraught moment for journalists — with rising political pressures and shrinking job prospects across the industry.”
But Stelter has also pointed out that the full picture of what is happening isn’t the MAGA-fication of CBS, as some have said.
Noting that Ellison had once donated $1 million to Joe Biden’s campaign, Stelter wrote, “The same company that cancelled Stephen Colbert’s late-night show on CBS also renewed Jon Stewart’s contract on Comedy Central and ordered more episodes of the Trump-skewering comedy ‘South Park.’ Maybe most importantly, CBS News continues to break hard-hitting stories about the Trump administration and other topics.”
That hasn’t stopped critics from accusing CBS of being a “Fox News wanna-be,” or Fox News from noticing potential competitors. (Fox put out a press launch this week comparing its ratings with CBS, with the headline “FOX NEWS CHANNEL TOPS CBS IN PRIMETIME FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY.”)
Analysts have said that it may take six months to finalize the deal, and there’s always a chance that it falls through, although Stelter said “the conventional wisdom is that the Trump admin will wave it right through.” The California attorney general, Rob Bonta, however, said on X that it is “not a done deal” and that the California Department of Justice is investigating the legality of the deal.