Maybe they’ll send Bari Weiss to CNN

After their dismantling of CBS, the Trump-aligned Ellison family is poised to absorb Warner Bros. Discovery. Newsroom employees at CNN are bracing for the usual “synergies,” which, in corporate media, translate into layoffs but, in Ellison-land, mean ideological realignment and the abandonment of trustworthy journalism.

The media landscape is increasingly owned and operated by oligarchs who seek to shape the narrative to their benefit. Musk buying Twitter, the Ellisons buying everything Trump tells them to, and there is no end in sight. Anticipate more Bari Weiss-style destruction of credibility as the future looms.

With Paramount Skydance emerging as the winning bidder, a deal that still requires the approval of WBD shareholders and government regulators, they fear the merging of the two networks – and, with it, the potential for a significant amount of job cuts. Some CNN employees are also nervous about Paramount’s Trump-friendly ownership and leadership enacting ideologically driven programming changes at the network, with particular concern about the specter of the CBS News editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, possibly getting a significant role.

Weiss, a conservative commentator turned media entrepreneur with no previous television industry experience, has had an uneven tenure at CBS since she was appointed editor-in-chief last October. Her path to the job was paved by concessions that David Ellison and his Skydance Media made to gain the support of Trump-picked regulators to acquire Paramount.

“A Paramount-WBD merger is a disaster for the people who work at both companies, and if Bari Weiss takes control of CNN, it will be the end of the global network Ted Turner founded,” one concerned CNN producer – who was not authorized to comment – told the Guardian. “I don’t think that’s hyperbolic.”

Guardian

Talk about sending in the clowns.