California Attorney General Rob Bonta expressed concern for NCS’s future at David Ellison’s Paramount, citing Bari Weiss’ CBS News revamp for instance.
“As an American—and a proud American who cares deeply about our democracy and the future of it, its durability, its sustainability—I’m very concerned about the reports about what’s happening at CBS,” Bonta informed Status in a Tuesday interview. “And I’m also concerned about the possibility that what’s happening at CBS could be part of an attempt to curry favor with the president who might want something similar to happen at NCS. And that led to an approval by the DOJ, even though the career attorneys thought there were problems with this deal and opposed this deal. We’ve heard that.”
Bonta’s feedback adopted an analogous accusation made by former “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley, who said last month in an exit statement that Ellison was “casting … aside” the information program to curry favor with Donald Trump.
“’60’ has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality and humanity in our stories,” Pelley wrote on the time. “When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration. The waste is heartbreaking.”
Pelley was terminated from “60 Minutes” after a conflict with Executive Producer Nick Bilton, through which he accused Weiss of “murdering” this system following the firings of Tanya Simon, Sharyn Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega and extra.
When requested whether or not he thought Ellison was a superb caretaker of CBS News and if he was involved for the WBD-owned NCS, Bonta, who’s at present main a coalition of state attorneys general in an antitrust lawsuit in opposition to the Paramount-Warner merger, voiced considerations a couple of “free and independent press.”
“I think that’s on the minds of many Americans and they’re worried about a lack of a free and independent press, overbearing editorial decision-making that undermines and undercuts free and independent journalism, that shuts down stories that should be told but then aren’t told, that favors the powerful when the powerful ask that a critical story not be told about them,” Bonta additional famous to Status. “That’s not good for democracy. The truth should be told, whatever the truth is. And the truth should be told, especially about the powerful.”
Representatives for Paramount and CBS News didn’t instantly reply to TheWrap’s request for remark.
As we talked about, Bonta and 11 different state attorneys general sued to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger on Monday. Bonta led the cost with the submitting, blasting the merger as “unlawful.”
“Today, I am leading 12 states in challenging the proposed merger of Warner Bros. and Paramount and asking the court to block the deal,” Bonta mentioned in an announcement. “California’s film and entertainment industry touches the lives of Americans daily. We’re going to court to fight for a free and fair market and protect this iconic industry.”
The state AGs have argued that the merger would create an leisure big with elevated leverage over film theaters, in addition to cable and streaming platforms.
In response, a Paramount spokesperson shared that they plan to “vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace.”
“Delaying this transaction will only harm entertainment workers,” the spokesperson continued on the time, “who have already suffered over recent years as technology has disrupted their livelihood and cost California tens of thousands of entertainment jobs.”
Bonta and the opposite AGs then requested a short lived restraining order and an injunction to stop Paramount and WBD from closing its proposed merger.
“Defendants have represented to counsel for the State of California that they may close and consummate the Transaction as soon as July 22, 2026,” the Monday night submitting acknowledged. “Immediate relief from the Court is necessary to preserve the status quo and to protect this Court’s ability to order appropriate relief upon a finding that the Transaction is unlawful.”
Bonta defined on NCS that the authorized transfer was meant to “make sure that the proposed merger is halted during the pendency of the litigation.”
“We have asked Paramount-Warner Bros. to agree not to close their deal, their proposed merger until the court can evaluate the merits of our case,” Bonta informed Kaitlan Collins on the time. “They declined to do that.”
