Paramount-WBD merger criticism based on David Ellison’s politics, future of CNN, CEO writes

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is arguing that an antitrust lawsuit that threatens to derail his company’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery comes down to his perceived politics, and the merger’s potential affect on CNN.

Writing in a New York Times op-ed published Tuesday, Ellison said he believes the go well with and criticism of the deal aren’t about market share, however about his pending possession of WBD’s CNN.

“I believe that anyone who oversees a news organization — I am chief executive of Paramount, which owns CBS — shouldn’t put a finger on the scale, especially on matters involving his own company,” he wrote.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison claimed that the lawsuit over his firm’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery is about his politics and its perceived affect on CNN AFP through Getty Images

“I believe this fight is not really about market share,” he continued, noting the deal has been permitted by regulators round the world. “The issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner’s CNN. There has been speculation about my politics, my loyalties, my intentions.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t give anyone a view into my heart and mind, but I can share this,” Ellison asserted.

“I have regularly voted for candidates of both parties; I hold some views that would be called conservative and others that would be called liberal, just like most Americans; and when it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views. I believe that news should be based on facts and truth.”

Ellison voiced dedication to producing news that’s honest, “straight down the middle,” and displays a big selection of views, comments he has made in the past, too.

“And it requires independence. Our journalists will continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve — not to any party or cause,” the exec added.

The media maven, who’s the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, cited a Gallup survey that says just 28% of Americans trust the news, a new low.

“Trust can’t be argued back, but it can be earned back — story by story, day by day. In an age when so much of what fills our screens is machine-generated or engineered to enrage, journalism from real reporters matters more than ever. That is the work I intend to pay for, patiently, for a long time,” he famous.

Ellison reiterated comments he has beforehand made about news divisions needing to be honest and “straight down the middle,” reflecting a big selection of factors of view. Getty Images

Ellison also reiterated the commitments that he’s making to maintain movie and TV manufacturing flowing if the deal goes by, and famous that the competitors from technology giants has battered legacy Hollywood studios.

“Hollywood is losing ground to technology platforms whose algorithms reward the loudest voices,” he wrote. “The work is leaving, especially from California — where I grew up and where I’m raising my family — draining the deepest pool of creative talent ever assembled.”

The CEO restated his dedication to producing 30 theatrical movies a yr, 170 TV collection yearly and invest more than $30 billion a yr in content creation ought to the Paramount-WBD merger undergo.

The op-ed got here as Paramount has been embroiled in a legal battle against 12 attorneys general, who’re pushing to stop the deal. Regulators in the US and Europe have already greenlit the merger, which might deliver Hollywood studios Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. under the same roof, in addition to news retailers CBS and CNN.

Paramount faces two lawsuits in the US and calls from actors for the UK to dam the merger overseas. REUTERS

“A deal this size is lived out in public, and I have felt every bit of that,” Ellison concluded. “I don’t ask to be taken at my word; the commitments are in writing, and the work will be on screens where anyone can judge it.”

Aside from the lawsuit filed by 12 US states, Paramount also faces a suit from the Writers Guild of America and calls from British actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong to push the UK government to block the deal.

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