CNN, CBS News now under one roof as Paramount-Warner Bros merger closes

Paramount Skydance has completed its $110bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery to form Skydance.

The deal, which closed on Tuesday, brings together two entertainment giants that own movie studios and theme parks, but also brings two of the United States’ most influential news brands under one roof — CNN and CBS News.

Skydance CEO David Ellison, son of tech tycoon Larry Ellison, who is also a close ally of US President Donald Trump, has appointed Ynon Kreiz as co-CEO. Kreiz previously led Mattel.

The road to the merger has included lawsuits from unions and 12 different state attorneys general. But the deal was ultimately settled after the company agreed to appoint an independent editorial board to oversee both news networks amid concerns that the merger would lead to skewed coverage at the two networks.

On Monday, the company announced that Mark Thompson will stay on as CNN’s editor-in-chief, while Bari Weiss, editor-in-chief at CBS News, who was appointed to the role a year ago on Monday, will stay in her position.

Thompson’s continuation brought “a sigh of relief” among journalists at CNN, its media industry newsletter, Reliable Sources, reported.

Ever since the merger had been announced, there had been a wave of concerns at the network that major changes would be made to CNN if the Ellisons took over.

A looming future

There are still a lot of unknowns about what news will look like under Skydance. In a memo to staffers on Monday, Thompson said that “the specifics of how CNN will plug into and operate in the new company have yet to be finalized.”

That means looming fears of layoffs and consolidation still weigh on both news divisions as the combined company will carry $80bn in debt, while the entertainment giants look to cut costs, grow their streaming footprint and have pledged to produce 30 movies per year.

Thompson’s stay may be temporary, as The New York Times reported that his contract is up in the spring.

It is also not yet clear whether the networks will stay separate or combine in the long term, amid concerns that CBS News’ Weiss could be handed additional charge of CNN. In the past, the network’s top talent, including journalist Anderson Cooper, has threatened to leave if she came on board.

Weiss took over the network one year ago, and viewership has slumped across the board. Most recently, the news magazine programme 60 Minutes saw viewership slump during its season premiere last month, dropping 21 percent from the prior year and marking its worst viewership for a season premiere in 25 years, according to Nielsen ratings.

Editorial questions

The terms of the attorneys general’s lawsuit settlement require an independent editorial oversight board for both the networks. Skydance has 180 days to put it together. Press freedom experts do not believe that will help maintain editorial independence.

“It doesn’t take effect for 180 days. The newsroom can be totally overhauled in 180 days,” Seth Stern, director of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told Al Jazeera.

It is not the first time a publication has appointed an editorial board to weigh in on concerns about editorial influence. In 2007, when News Corp acquired Dow Jones, the parent company of the Wall Street Journal, the Bancroft family, which owned the publisher at the time, was concerned that new owner and media mogul Rupert Murdoch would impact the paper’s editorial independence with his conservative tilt.

The paper appointed a five-person independent committee to preserve editorial integrity. But it was later revealed, including by former members of the board during a roundtable discussion hosted by the Freedom of the Press Foundation, that it did not deliver the oversight that it was originally intended to provide.

In Skydance’s case, the board is to be made up of five journalists appointed by Ellison, and there is no requirement for the company to disclose its findings to the public. The terms say that no more than two people on the board can be affiliated with the same political party.

“The truth isn’t dictated by the fifty-yard line between political parties. Sometimes neither political party is even close to the truth. So having a commitment to bipartisan representation, as opposed to a commitment to truth-telling, totally misunderstands what news is,” Stern said.

On Wall Street, the new company began trading under the ticker symbol SKYD. Since opening on Tuesday, the stock has dropped 2.5 percent.

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: aljazeera.com