CNN employees ‘devastated’ over Warner Bros’ likely Discovery-Paramount deal
CNN employees are reportedly deeply frightened and filled with “anxiety” about the fact that the network will likely become part of the more conservative Paramount-Skydance under a proposed new deal. RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The left-wing network could soon see changes similar to those of CBS News, with Republican billionaire David Ellison as the new boss as Warner Bros. Discovery sells its assets.
Paramount and Netflix were in a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, but the streamer said it would leave negotiations after Paramount issued a so-called “superior” revised offer on Feb. 26 that the company was unwilling to match.
CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and employees are “devastated” by the prospect of the sale, an insider said Variety.
“No one is happy,” said a second staffer, as Liberal news staff trembled in “fear” about what is to come.
CNN President Mark Thompson told employees in a memo about the possible sale to Paramount: “Despite all the speculation you have read during this process, I would suggest that you do not rush to conclusions about the future until we know more.”
He added: “Let’s remain focused on delivering the best possible journalism to the millions of people who rely on us around the world.”
CNN’s ratings have fallen sharply in recent years. The network has lost 40 percent of its viewers since 2017, the year Donald Trump began his first term as president, and its content has undergone a noticeable partisan shift to the left.
In 2023, CNN’s primetime programming hit a 33-year low.
Trump has gone so far as to not answer questions from CNN’s White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins due to the network’s non-stop bashing of the president and his policies.
He openly calls CNN “fake news” when speaking to reporters, and regularly repeats this claim on his social media.
If Ellison ultimately gets the cable news network as his assets, CNN’s overt anti-Trump proselytizing could quickly change.
Ellison infamously enlisted The Free Press’ founder Bari Weiss to clean up the “awakening” from left-wing CBS News in October 2025 following its purchase of Paramount, and steer the operation back toward more balanced reporting.
Weiss’s arrival led to almost immediate dismissal among liberal talent.
Just before she took over the reins, CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickinson announced he was leaving the network after 16 years.
Similarly, his co-host, Maurice DuBois, revealed he was “moving on” from the network, saying his job had been the “honor of his life.”
Weiss promoted Hunky CBS mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil will anchor the flagship evening news solo starting in January.
The former New York Times The writer of an op-ed page told staff at a town hall meeting early this year that if their political views got in the way of objective reporting, they were free to leave.
“It’s a free country, and I fully respect if you decide that I’m not the right leader for you, or that this isn’t the right place at the right time,” she told the staff, outlining her more moderate and anti-woke vision for the network’s news division.
