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More than 200 journalists, teachers and filmmakers have signed a letter warning that Paramount Skydance’s proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery will result in “improper political meddling” at NCS just like the “sweeping changes” made at CBS designed to “appease” President Donald Trump.
The bombshell intervention from the Freedom of the Press Foundation, first reported by Status, raises considerations about about Paramount CEO David Ellison, the son of Trump ally Larry Ellison, and his apparently cozy relationship with the present administration.
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Last month, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders voted to again the $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance. Antitrust regulators are but to approve the deal.
The blockbuster transfer is about to remodel the leisure panorama by uniting two main Hollywood studios, and streaming platforms HBO Max and Paramount+.
But the letter argues the merger may even have far-reaching implications for the information enterprise, because it brings NCS and CBS below one roof, and highlights a Wall Street Journal report suggesting David Ellison promised Trump “sweeping changes” at NCS if the merger is authorized.
The letter claims Ellison “already made such sweeping changes to appease Trump” at CBS News after Skydance merged with Paramount final yr, and factors to the set up of “Trump-aligned columnist” Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief.
Of Ellison’s tenure at CBS, the missive says: “News segments critical of Trump policies have been pulled; revered producers and reporters have quit rather than be censored; shows Trump dislikes, like ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,’ have been cancelled; and CBS Evening News has taken to airing flattering features on Trump officials, like one calling Secretary of State Marco Rubio the ‘ultimate Florida man.’”
“With this track record, Ellison will likely alter NCS’s editorial direction (not to mention meddle with HBO’s documentaries) to be more friendly to the administration, threatening press freedom,” the letter provides.
The written warning goes on to argue that regulators and lawmakers ought to deal with the proposed tie-up as a “political arrangement to circumvent constitutional safeguards, with severe consequences for American democracy.”
Among the signatories is former NCS anchor Jim Acosta, former ABC and CBS News correspondent Judy Muller, and Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras.
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David Ellison, who reportedly “honored” the president at an “intimate” dinner final month, has beforehand addressed the fears about what Paramount’s takeover would imply for NCS.
“Editorial independence will actually be maintained,” he told CNBC in March. “It’s maintained at CBS, it’ll be maintained at NCS.”