Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is vowing to maintain CNN’s independence after his company’s all-but-inevitable takeover of the news network and parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
On Thursday’s episode of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” the media mogul dismissed “fear” CNN would be forced to take a hard right-wing pivot once it is acquired by his business.
“Editorial independence will absolutely be maintained,” he said of the outlet, which has long been accused of liberal bias by President Donald Trump. “It’s maintained at CBS, it’ll be maintained at CNN.”
“Really who we want to talk to is the 70% of Americans that identify as center-left and center-right and we want to be in the truth business, we want to be in the trust business and that’s not going to change,” the son of high-profile Trump donor Larry Ellison went on.
David Ellison’s explanation wasn’t exactly convincing to journalism fans, however, given the changes at CBS News that have gone down since Skydance officially merged with Paramount in August 2025 and led to the installation of journalist Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief.
Since Weiss took the helm of CBS last October, the outlet has been accused of shamelessly kowtowing to Trump and his administration.
Newsroom concerns about CBS’s editorial independence appeared all but confirmed as Weiss aggressively slashed staff, handpicked a collection of conservative on-screen talent and launched a town hall series featuring MAGA allies like Erika Kirk and Vice President JD Vance.
In December, her leadership came under further scrutiny after deciding to shelve a “60 Minutes” story about the abuse of migrants sent to El Salvador’s infamous CECOT prison.
While Weiss said the story was being held for “additional reporting” after Trump officials declined to go on the record, internal emails from the reporter who led the piece, journalist Sharyn Alfonsi, said the decision essentially gave the administration a “kill switch” to bury any reporting “they find inconvenient.” The report eventually aired this January.
Prior to Weiss’ tenure at CBS, Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit from Trump last July, in which he accused the news channel of deceptively editing an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
The settlement was largely seen as a way to appease Trump’s Federal Communications Commission as Skydance sought approval for its proposed merger with Paramount.