Controversial CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss will not have a role at CNN after the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal is closed, according to a new report.
The two media conglomerates will officially merge on Tuesday after the deal was held up for months over antitrust concerns. On Wednesday, a federal judge approved the settlement between Skydance’s Paramount and a dozen state attorneys general who attempted to block its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Questions remain about how the deal will shape company leadership and impact the former rival newsrooms at CBS and CNN.
Paramount CEO David Ellison and his team have reportedly been deciding how CNN, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, will work with Paramount’s CBS News and its embattled leader, Weiss.
But Weiss isn’t expected to have a role at CNN after the merger is complete, people familiar with Ellison’s thinking told The Wall Street Journal.
Weiss, founder of the media outlet The Free Press, was appointed CBS News’ editor-in-chief last October after Ellison, who has courted President Donald Trump, took over Paramount.
Weiss has faced scrutiny over her editorial decisions, particularly her choice to pull a 60 Minutes segment about Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration to CECOT, an El Salvadoran prison accused of having inhumane conditions.
The segment aired nearly one month later.
60 Minutes, America’s most-watched TV program, has seen a massive shakeup under Weiss’ leadership.
Executive Producer Tanya Simon was ousted in May, along with her deputy, Draggan Mihailovich, and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi in a single day, dubbed “Black Thursday.”
As part of Paramount’s recently approved settlement, the company will create a board of journalists to monitor editorial independence at CNN and CBS News — two networks known for different newsroom cultures.
Ellison asked Mark Thompson, the chief executive of CNN, to stay on after the merger, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
The two are currently discussing a new contract, but terms haven’t been reached yet, according to the Journal’s sources.
