David Ellison backs CNN’s Trump lawsuit, pledges editorial independence

CNN’s new owner, David Ellison, says he supports CNN’s legal action against the Trump administration over White House access, and will not interfere in the news organization’s coverage.

“We believe in editorial independence, and we will never interfere,” Ellison said, reiterating the reassurances he made while seeking to buy Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year.

The merger between Warner and Paramount took effect on Tuesday morning, and Ellison held an employee town hall to introduce the newly combined company, named Skydance.

Ellison, the CEO of Skydance, laid out his vision for investing in films, shows and new technology.

“For the first time,” he said, “we have the studios, the franchises, the libraries, the talent and scale all under one roof to compete with anyone in the world.”

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper interviewed Ellison at the town hall and asked directly about CNN employees’ concerns about Skydance’s ownership.

In response, Ellison said, “I believe deeply in journalism,” and went on to call the work done by CBS News and CNN “a vital part of our democracy.”

While speaking about the need for fact-based news, Ellison said, “You go back to what President Obama said during the pandemic. He said a republic that can’t agree on the same set of facts can’t function, and I think he was 100% right about that.”

In the news space, “we want to actually help scale and transition the business digitally,” Ellison said.

He emphasized the importance of growing CNN’s digital operations and reaching new audiences worldwide, citing Skydance’s estimate that the combined company reaches more than 200 million streaming subscribers.

The newly formed company, he said, “can create an even bigger platform for the best journalism in the world.”

The Ellison family’s ties to President Donald Trump had fueled concerns among CNN employees about the network’s independence.

Last fall, Trump described Ellison and his father, the billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, as “friends of mine” and “big supporters of mine.” Last December, Trump said “it’s imperative that CNN be sold” to new owners.

Asked about the merger by a reporter on Tuesday afternoon, Trump said, “It’s going to be a great company. They’re terrific people, and it’s going to be a great company.”

At the Skydance town hall, Cooper asked a follow-up question about CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s First Amendment lawsuit over Trump’s recent attempt to ban the three news outlets from the White House.

Cooper asked, “Do you stand with CNN and our effort to completely restore access to covering President Trump?”

“Of course,” Ellison said.

The next hearing in the legal case is slated for Thursday morning.

Both CNN chairman and editor-in-chief Mark Thompson and CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss attended the town hall. The two news operations are operating separately for now.

“We trust Mark, we trust the team,” Ellison said while speaking about CNN.

Later on, Cooper asked about the likelihood of a tie-up between CBS and CNN in the future: “If Paramount and Warner Brothers are now cousins, and CBS News and CNN are cousins, when does somebody start to ask them to share organs?”

“It’s day one,” Ellison said.

He said he intends to bring the relevant business leaders “into the decision-making” now that the deal has taken effect.

Generally speaking, companies will start making integration decisions “within usually 120 days,” Ellison said, “but I think it’s foolish to try to say I’m going to show up with every single answer today.”

CNN 的新老板大卫·埃里森表示，他支持 CNN 就白宫准入问题对特朗普政府提起的法律诉讼，并且不会干预该新闻机构的报道。

“我们相信编辑独立性，我们永远不会干预，”埃里森说道，重申了他在今年早些时候寻求收购华纳兄弟探索频道时所作出的保证。

华纳和派拉蒙的合并于周二上午生效，埃里森召开了员工大会，介绍了新合并的公司——天空之舞影业。

Skydance 的首席执行官埃里森阐述了他对投资电影、电视节目和新技术的愿景。

他说：“我们第一次将工作室、系列作品、片库、人才和规模全部集中在一个屋檐下，可以与世界上任何公司竞争。”

CNN 主播安德森·库珀在市政厅会议上采访了埃里森，并直接询问了 CNN 员工对 Skydance 所有权的担忧。

对此，埃里森表示：“我深信新闻业”，并称哥伦比亚广播公司新闻网和美国有线电视新闻网所做的工作是“我们民主制度的重要组成部分”。

埃里森在谈到基于事实的新闻的重要性时说：“你可以回顾一下奥巴马总统在疫情期间说过的话。他说，一个共和国如果不能就同一套事实达成一致，就无法正常运转，我认为他在这点上完全正确。”

埃里森表示，在新闻领域，“我们希望真正帮助企业扩大规模并实现数字化转型”。

他强调了发展 CNN 数字业务和拓展全球新受众的重要性，并援引 Skydance 的估计称，合并后的公司拥有超过 2 亿流媒体用户。

他表示，新成立的公司“可以为世界上最好的新闻报道创造一个更大的平台”。

埃里森家族与唐纳德·特朗普总统的关系加剧了 CNN 员工对该电视台独立性的担忧。

去年秋天，特朗普称埃里森及其父亲、亿万富翁、甲骨文公司联合创始人拉里·埃里森是“我的朋友”和“我的坚定支持者”。去年12月，特朗普表示“必须将CNN出售”给新的所有者。

周二下午，当记者就合并事宜询问特朗普时，特朗普表示：“这将是一家伟大的公司。他们都是很棒的人，这将会是一家伟大的公司。”

在 Skydance 市政厅会议上，库珀就 CNN、MS NOW 和 Politico 就特朗普最近试图禁止这三家新闻媒体进入白宫一事提起的第一修正案诉讼提出了后续问题。

库珀问道：“您是否支持 CNN 和我们为全面恢复对特朗普总统的报道所做的努力？”

“当然，”埃里森说。

该诉讼案的下一次听证会定于周四上午举行。

CNN董事长兼总编辑马克·汤普森和CBS新闻总编辑巴里·韦斯都出席了此次市政厅会议。目前，这两家新闻机构各自独立运营。

“我们信任马克，我们信任这个团队，”埃里森在谈到 CNN 时说道。

后来，库珀问及 CBS 和 CNN 未来合并的可能性：“如果派拉蒙和华纳兄弟现在是表亲，CBS 新闻和 CNN 也是表亲，那么什么时候会有人要求他们共享器官呢？”

“今天是第一天，”埃里森说。

他表示，既然交易已经生效，他打算让相关的企业领导人“参与决策”。

埃里森说，一般来说，公司会在“通常 120 天内”开始做出整合决定，“但我认为，试图说我今天就能给出所有问题的答案是愚蠢的。”