CNN’s Future Will Include an Editorial Oversight Board

This much is known: CNN is on the brink of having a new owner. And it will have a new independent editorial board.

But that is where certainties about the network’s future end.

Paramount Skydance settled an antitrust lawsuit with a group of 12 states on Monday, paving the way for David Ellison, the company’s chief executive, to close his $111 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal will give him control of Warner’s film and TV studios, and cable networks like HBO, Comedy Central and CNN.

That means that CNN and CBS News, which Paramount already owns, will be under the same corporate boss by early October.

The looming possibility of Mr. Ellison’s ownership has caused anxiety in CNN’s newsroom since the acquisition was announced at the beginning of the year. Mr. Ellison enjoys a friendly relationship with President Trump, who regularly assails CNN as biased and barred the network — along with MS NOW and Politico — from the White House grounds late last week, prompting a lawsuit and a First Amendment outcry.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/21/business/media/cnn-cbs-paramount-david-ellison.html