CNN Personalities SPEAK OUT Against David Ellison’s Paramount Takeover

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Status exclusively received this letter that was signed by hundreds of journalists, academics, and documentarians opposing David Ellison's Paramount taking over Warner Brothers Discovery.

[00:00:14]Warner Brothers Discovery, of course, is the parent company of CNN, and there've been many concerns that Ellison, with Barry Weiss in charge of CBS News and the political changes that have taken place there, that if he has managed to take over Warner Brothers Discovery, that we could see something like this happen and it's with far more reaching implications by also having CNN in his in his portfolio. This letter that we obtained says that Ellison will likely alter CNN's editorial direction, not to mention metal with HBO's documentaries to be more friendly to the administration threatening press freedom. It noted that members of the administration expect exactly that. Of course, we've actually heard Donald Trump talk about that. Um, but among the signees, which I think is really interesting here, is that you don't just have former journalist heavyweights who are retired like Sam Donaldson, who used to be the ABC News anchor, um, Judy Muller, uh, Jim Acosta, former CNN anchor who is now an independent journalist, MSNBC host, and others, but you also have current faces who are on the air there like SE Cupp, who is a contributor. Um, and separately, Oliver, I think that there was Kara Swisher, who did not sign the letter, but instead hosted a virtual gathering for folks to come together on this.

[00:01:44]>> She participated. Yeah, she participated in a virtual gathering.

[00:01:47]>> They're not doing it for economics.

[00:01:49]They're not. The math doesn't math because they're doing it. Do you think Elon Musk bought Twitter for to make money? He did it for influence. This is This is not about that. It's about assembling influence in a private manner that is that is acquiescent to a government.

[00:02:05]>> You're right. It is I think highly notable that you have actual people who are paid by CNN. These are people on the CNN payroll. They're not full-fledged CNNers. They're not hosts or, you know, necessarily full-time journalists, but they are paid contributors and they are speaking out very clearly against this merger saying it's not, you know, SE Cupp putting her name to this this document that says that Ellison is likely to alter CNN's editorial direction to be more friendly to Donald Trump. And with Kara Swisher speaking out on this call with other journalists saying that she's not in favor of this deal. So, I don't know. I mean, it seems this is this is obviously they're they're they are reflecting I think of how a lot of other people inside the organization feel. Um, you know, who don't necessarily or aren't very big fans of Ellison coming in and taking over. I think most of the journalists inside there are skeptical to be putting it in a mild mild way about what David Ellison's intentions are for the network and what the network is going to look like under his ownership given that they watched in horror as he has upended programs like 60 Minutes. So, they're all worried and you have a couple journalists now speaking out. I still think it's odd that some of the big names, you know, who cannot be fired by CNN, you know, thinking about Wolf Blitzer for instance. You can't really fire Wolf Blitzer. How they have been entirely quiet. But they This does add to Christiane Amanpour who had expressed strong reservations about David Ellison coming in and purchasing CNN.

[00:03:42]So, we'll see if there's anything that grows here, but remarkable in itself that so many journalists are signing The journalists are not advocates or advocacy folks, right? They like to stay out.

[00:03:52]>> No, you've never seen journalists get involved in like merger talks like this or potential like company takeovers.

[00:04:00]They they stay out of this stuff. They cover the story, but they generally don't insert themselves into opposition or advocating for it to happen. And the fact that Swisher, who is a very smart journalist, has been around the block here, right? Like she's a no-nonsense BS journalist and has her own weekend show on CNN.

[00:04:21]The fact that she would, you know, be involved with and speak at this gathering that was billed to highlight the threats of the merger and that it poses press freedom. I'm reading directly from it. Press freedom, independent journalism, and documentary film production that it threatens that, you know, I I think that for someone like herself, who is at a little bit more arms length to the network, of course, than others who work full-time for it. I do think I perhaps that these people like SE Cupp are speaking for what a lot of people might be thinking inside of there, especially today as they are watching the dismantling of 60 Minutes.

[00:05:02]Despite the incredible success of that show where in no one watches broadcast anymore, delivering 10 million viewers every Sunday reliably, um and saying, "You know, we need to make a change here." is um I think that maybe does not bode well for CNN and they must be worried there.

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