Editorial: Democracy is being eroded by the news media billionaire owners doing as they place with no government concrete opposition. In this instance, it is Paramount Skydance, a huge media conglomerate owned by David Ellison fighting to succeed his attempted merger with another huge media corporation. These moguls are twisting the news to influence the masses.
In this instance, read how “60 minutes,” a TV show that has proudly reported news stories objectively and well-balanced. Now it is being ravaged by the owner trying to force it to report news that is biased and slanted. Read the details about the reporters of the show losing their jobs. How long can such courageous journalists successfully withstand the onslaught of these billionaire owners whose philosophy is not “report the news objectively” but “report the news as I want regardless.”
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The core argument
David Ellison, owner of Paramount Skydance, wrote a New York Times guest essay arguing he can be trusted to run CNN independently if his Warner Bros. Discovery merger goes through. The author (Dan Rather’s team) argues his track record at CBS says otherwise.
Why the merger is actually delayed
- Twelve state attorneys general have sued to block the $111 billion merger.
- The Writers Guild of America filed a separate suit.
- Both argue the deal would restrict industry competition and collective bargaining power.
- Trial is set for next March; the merger is on hold until then.
- Ellison’s Times essay is characterized as a public-opinion campaign, not a response to the actual legal issues.
The case against trusting Ellison with CNN
- Since buying CBS, Ellison paid $150 million for The Free Press and installed its right-leaning owner, Bari Weiss, to run CBS News with no TV experience.
- Four “60 Minutes” correspondents departed or were fired: Sharyn Alfonsi, Anderson Cooper, Scott Pelley, Cecilia Vega — plus executive producers Bill Owens and Tanya Simon.
- Alfonsi says she wasn’t renewed after challenging the shelving of her reporting on deportations to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
- Pelley was fired after accusing Weiss of “murdering” the news magazine.
- Vega says she faced pressure to insert political bias and false claims into her reporting.
- The Justice Department approved the merger in June — under an administration the piece says Trump has turned into “an extension of his own legal team.”
The Epstein story left unfinished
- Alfonsi was reportedly working on a piece tying Jeffrey Epstein to Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and the U.S. Virgin Islands government, including an interview with Senator Ron Wyden.
- She was fired before it aired.
- Wyden has since released a 61-page report on the same banks ignoring suspicious Epstein transactions.
What’s next
- Former “60 Minutes” EP Bill Owens says he’s shopped a reboot around Hollywood, but no one will fund it yet.
- Alfonsi and Pelley are joining Columbia’s journalism school as journalists in residence for 2026-27.
- The piece closes framing this as part of a broader retreat by corporate media from adversarial journalism.
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