David Ellison: Editorial Independence Will Be Maintained at CNN Once Deal Closes

As CNN staffers brace for impact amid Paramount’s looking takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount CEO David Ellison is seeking to reassure them that the independence of the venerable news brand will be kept alive.

Ellison gave his first interview about the WBD deal (aside from his call with Wall Street analysts earlier this week) to CNBC, where CNN’s future was the subject of intense interest from David Faber.

“CNN is an incredible brand with an incredible team, and we absolutely believe in the independence that needs to be maintained for those incredible journalists, and we want to support that going forward,” Ellison said. “Editorial, independence will absolutely be maintained. It is maintained at CBS, it will be maintained at CNN.”

Of course, Bari Weiss’ run at CBS is one of the reason that CNN staff are so concerned. Ellison also reiterated his comments from last year, when he said that CBS News needs to speak to the 70 percent of Americans who describe themselves as enter left or center right, and that the same philosophy will apply to CNN.

“We want to be in the truth business, we want to be in the trust business, and that’s not going to change,” he said.

But there will be changes, particularly with how the news brands adapt to a radically changing media environment.

“CNN and CBS News are brands that we also really want to be a part of transitioning to streaming, so that consumers have the choice if they want to watch our incredible news brands on broadcast, they can do that, if they want to watch on cable, they can do that,” Ellison said. “But we also want to create a world where, if they want to watch on streaming, they can do that, and where we can really meet consumers where they are. We’re going to invest in the news business, and we think this is going to this transaction will be a positive for both CBS News and CNN.”

Ellison also used the interview to reiterate many of the arguments he made to Wall Street, touting the scale of a combined company, and framing it as a positive one for the industry.

“I spent 15 years of my life selling to this ecosystem,” Ellison said. “We want to grow, and the only way to obviously grow and to get the first place in streaming is to invest more in content. That’s going to be good for the Creator economy. It’s gonna be good for Hollywood.”