One Merger After Another: Trump Cronies Take Over CNN

CBS was the test case. Now CNN is next. A wave of corporate media mergers is reshaping who controls what Americans see, hear, and believe.

Paramount elbowed out Netflix to buy Warner Brothers Discovery after a months-long bidding war. When (not if) the deal closes, Paramount will control 25% of the entire media market, and half of the cable TV market. It will put CBS and CNN under one roof. And that roof sits atop a house owned by the Trump-friendly Ellison family.

CNN got a clear picture of what its future now looks like over the last year, following the Ellison’s purchase and remake of CBS news. See: the installation of Bari Weiss. See also: the muzzling of Stephen Colbert. They’ve effectively turned the network into a mouthpiece for the state.

Larry Ellison has said exactly what he plans to do with CNN, which is whatever Trump wants. In calls with the White House, he discussed axing CNN hosts Trump doesn’t like, including Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar.

Paramount’s allegiances are abundantly clear, all but ensuring that CNN will get the full MAGA rebrand, just like CBS. It’s yet another domino to fall in the march towards right wing control of the media.

Oh, and if you think there’s a chance the deal might not go through, that Trump’s Justice Department will do literally anything to enforce antitrust laws, let that delusion go now. FCC Chair Brendan Carr ruled that out months ago. “I’d be very surprised if there was an FCC role at all in that type of transaction,” he said.

The Bigger Picture

Nevermind that this massive consolidation of TV and movie studios moves Hollywood one step closer to death’s door. Thousands of people will lose their jobs. But giving one billionaire family control of a huge portion of the country’s news outlets puts press freedom on life support.

And this isn’t the only big consolidation threatening media independence.

Trump just gave the thumbs up on another massively consequential merger, this one between the owner/operators of TV stations, Nexstar and Tegna. You may not know Nexstar by name, but you’re probably familiar with their work. Last year, they refused to air Jimmy Kimmel on their local affiliates once ABC reinstated him after pulling him off the air for a joke Trump didn’t like. (Cue Elon Musk saying: “Comedy is legal again.”)

That deal lacks the flashy name recognition of the Paramount/Warner deal. But it’s just as, if not more insidious. It would mean one rightwing company owns 80% of local TV stations in the country.

If there’s any question about what the implications of that deal are, look no further than Trump’s Truth Social commentary on it:

“We need more competition against THE ENEMY, the Fake News National TV Networks. Letting Good Deals get done like Nexstar – Tegna will help knock out the Fake News because there will be more competition, and at a higher and more sophisticated level.”

And there’s a third right wing conspiracy to destroy the credibility of TV news. Sinclair is another conservative corporation that owns 200 local TV stations. You may remember a spectacularly Orwellian moment back during the first Trump administration, when news anchors all over the country all recited the same exact script about the dangerous spread of fake news, word for word, on air.

This is how the media gets compromised: slowly, then all at once.

And that’s why I’m working harder than ever to expose these corrupt attacks on the media and freedom of speech. This is why independent media matters. I can’t be bought by MAGA billionaires, and no one can tell me what to say. I work for you. I’m accountable to you. And it’s because of you that I’m able to keep doing it.