You have to scroll to the end of California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s statement about the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger to find the first — and only — mention of the massive settlement’s implications for freedom of the press.
In addition to Paramount-Warner commitments regarding film production and distribution, Bonta’s statement notes, “The company agrees to a News Editorial Independence Board to help CNN and CBS maintain editorial independence.”
Here’s what isn’t clear: what a “news editorial independence board” even is, to whom it would report, and what would happen if this yet-to-be-created board discovered problems with editorial independence at CNN or CBS. Such independence, the long-established norm that news outlets should report in the public interest based on what is newsworthy and without external influence from media owners, government officials or sponsors, is a bedrock of democracy.
There are so far no details on who would control and sit on the board or what exactly it would do, and no answers about how it will serve as an effective guardrail for what will soon become one of the largest TV news operations on the planet.
As Eric Deggans, a journalism professor, media analyst and critic-at-large at NPR, wrote Tuesday, “Looking at terms of the settlement Paramount finagled to allow its mega merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, I feel every major institution that was supposed to protect the public has failed us.”
Bonta co-led a coalition of 12 state attorneys general who sued to block the merger between Paramount Skydance Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., a purchase by Paramount that would create a company estimated at $110 billion in value — an absolute behemoth.
Much of Hollywood cheered the lawsuit from a distance, rightfully concerned that allowing the companies to consolidate would ultimately mean cutting jobs. As many as 4,500 film and television jobs and billions of dollars in business output could be lost over a three-year period in Los Angeles County, according to a county report.
But despite some upbeat murmurings after Monday’s news of a settlement, it doesn’t appear that the AGs extracted much of anything in the way of guarantees against such future corporate behavior. It has been widely reported that Bonta was under intense pressure from California Gov. Gavin Newsom to settle the lawsuit, with Newsom worried about Paramount’s threat to leave Hollywood if CEO David Ellison, son of Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison, didn’t get what he wanted. (Newsom has denied pressuring Bonta or anyone else, but steadfastly supported settling the suit.)
The settlement probably assuages those concerns. But what about both CNN and CBS, networks that will now be aligned under the ownership of Ellison, whose close ties to President Donald Trump are well known?
“One need look no further than what’s happened to Paramount-owned CBS News since the Ellisons took over last year,” Jessica González, co-CEO of the media advocacy organization Free Press, told Capital & Main. “They have interfered with the editorial independence of the newsroom and 60 Minutes, causing a mass exodus of seasoned and well respected journalists and news producers, who complained that the company is censoring and suppressing stories that may anger the president.”
“The ratings are in the tank, but Ellison doesn’t care because his purpose isn’t to produce good journalism and entertainment content,” González added. “It’s not even to turn a profit. It’s to control the narrative. This is a classic example of billionaire oligarchs taking over the media to aid authoritarian leaders. Those leaders, in turn, reward them with government contracts and regulatory favors.”
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) expressed similar sentiments only two days before the settlement was announced, writing on Facebook, “The last thing we need is another Trump-controlled media conglomerate abusing its power to stomp out competition. This is a dangerous merger.”
But under terms of this settlement, there is no requirement for the company to divest either CNN or CBS. That raises the specter of those networks, each with long traditions of straightforward journalism, now being bent to the will of Trump or of those trying to curry his favor.
Norman Eisen, co-founder of Democracy Defenders, a nonprofit that advocates for free and fair elections and against threats to democracy, told The New York Times that his group will act as a watchdog of CNN, CBS and the purported independent oversight board.
“We and our partners will be on the case 24/7 to make sure CNN and CBS News and the new board are held accountable,” Eisen told the newspaper.
What does that look like in practice? There is no easy answer, and every reason to wonder whether anyone can hold the new conglomerate accountable.
Plenty of onlookers have decried the new direction of CBS News under Bari Weiss, who was handpicked by David Ellison in 2025 to run the division and, among other things, subsequently purged veteran staff members 60 Minutes. But Weiss remains firmly in control.
Likewise, if the newly formed Paramount-Warner company forces CNN in a rightward direction politically, there’s little to stop it. That is one of the many reasons that California AG Bonta opposed the merger from the outset.
“Consolidation here not only leads to higher prices,” Bonta said in announcing the lawsuit in July. “It also leads to fewer opportunities for important stories to come to life, and fewer ways for audiences to encounter stories, ideas, and perspectives beyond their own experiences.”
In announcing the settlement this week, Bonta made it clear that his opinion has not changed. “This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger,” he told reporters during a Monday news conference. Still, he relented, saying the settlement “resolves our antitrust concerns in every market alleged in our case, protects competition and consumer choice, and puts workers’ needs, concerns, and futures first.”
Bonta’s decision to concede has led, understandably, to tough questions and fierce criticism. Said Free Press’s González, “The AG’s capitulation marks a new low.”
Independent journalism lies at the heart of any democracy. The U.S. has historically benefitted from a robust press unafraid to question politicians and officials on any side of an issue, and for decades, CBS and CNN have been central to that system of journalistic checks and balances. From all appearances, that role is about to become even more difficult.
