For CNN, a Takeover by Paramount Means a Suddenly Uncertain Future

Once again, CNN is facing an uncertain fate.

Netflix’s stunning surrender on Thursday in its effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery all but assures that the 24-hour news channel will soon be controlled by David Ellison, the chairman of Paramount Skydance and the technology heir best known in the journalism world for his recent revamp of CBS News.

Mr. Ellison’s intentions for the channel remain unclear. But the development has caused some shudders within the CNN newsroom, where the chief executive, Mark Thompson, felt compelled to issue a memo shortly after Netflix’s announcement.

“Despite all the speculation you’ve read during this process, I’d suggest that you don’t jump to conclusions about the future until we know more,” Mr. Thompson wrote. In an email with the subject line “Corporate Update,” he urged his journalists to focus on the “newsy year at home and abroad,” including the upcoming midterm elections “and who knows what else.”

Within CNN, though, reporters and producers have expressed concern that their newsroom’s independence, a point of pride, could be compromised in the event that Paramount absorbs the company.

Mr. Ellison has a friendly relationship with President Trump, who regularly assails CNN as biased. When Mr. Ellison acquired Paramount last year, the Trump administration approved the sale after Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump against “60 Minutes.” On Tuesday, Mr. Ellison attended Mr. Trump’s State of the Union speech as a guest of Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican.

Upon taking over CBS News, Mr. Ellison appointed Kenneth R. Weinstein, a conservative policy veteran with no experience overseeing news coverage, to serve as the news division’s ombudsman. And he selected Bari Weiss as editor in chief, elevating an opinion journalist with a long history of criticizing old-line media institutions.

Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.