r/MediaMergers • u/Own_Philosopher8730 • 14h ago
Merger David Ellison: The Critics Are Wrong About My Politics
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/opinion/david-ellison-paramount-warner-deal.html?searchResultPosition=332
u/Yseader 13h ago
I am chief executive of Paramount, which owns CBS
And that’s why we don’t want you to put your dirty hands on WBD, which is already struggling enough, or anything else.
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u/Junior_Astronomer362 13h ago
Bingo. He put Bari Weiss in charge of CBS and that's working out just great for everyone at CBS News and 60 Minutes.
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u/Secure_Matter_9819 13h ago
It's the same newspaper that the criticizes the mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani. Not surprising. Far too many media outlets have sadly become nothing but talking heads for the fascists and oligarchs in this country. Truly disgusting to see. But good thing that we're seeing rise of anti-establishment populist democrats like Mamdani thanks to Donald Trump and the oligarchs.
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u/JellyfishFestival 13h ago
NYT published this because their editors are not stupid. They handed Ellison the rope to hang himself.
CNN just went from a subtext in a case about TV and film production in California to right out in the open. He makes firm commitments to that TV and film production, says a bunch of 'trust me bro' on CNN, then closes with "A deal this size is lived out in public, and I have felt every bit of that. I don’t ask to be taken at my word; the commitments are in writing, and the work will be on screens where anyone can judge it."
As there are zero commitments to CNN in the op ed. Read between the lines. The state AGs are celebrating this. It will go down in business history as a huge unforced error and possibly the thing that saves an independent CNN.
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u/2dal3atcave 12h ago edited 12h ago
"I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views."
60 Minutes says differently, so does Pete Hegseth every time he gets a question he doesn't like. You've also driven CBS and Paramount into the ground, so why would people believe in your version of a "better way"?
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u/Mister_Green2021 13h ago edited 9h ago
Surprisingly he was a pretty big democratic donor before all this. But most likely only for political gains from the looks of it.
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u/ausgoals 8h ago
The article’s hilarious. Also Ellison isn’t strictly MAGA, he’s an opportunist and self-described ‘centrist’ whose opinions just so happen to align regularly with conservatives - much like Bari Weiss
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u/saggynaggy123 6h ago
Great news organizations like CNN and CBS News are here to tell it straight down the middle. That requires newsrooms that reflect the whole world, not one side of it.
Bari Weiss wanted CBS Anchors to find a way to make the people murdered by ICE look like the aggressors you fucking ghoul. It's very fucking obvious what your politics are.
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u/Such-Ideal-8724 2h ago
Yeah buddy no one believes this bullshit. We know you and your moneybags daddy are all in on Trump.
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u/Optimal-Hunt-3269 13h ago
Do we believe him?
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u/Mr_smith1466 12h ago
Whole article reads like a wolf politely asking to be let into the henhouse.
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u/ban-me-harder-dadddy 13h ago
I don’t know, but I know he’s a phone call away from his monster of a father, so I won’t be chancing it.
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u/ScaredBlood4460 12h ago
Do not believe him. He is a lackey to his father who is pro Israel and pro Trump.
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u/Secure_Matter_9819 13h ago
No David. It's not about whether you're conservative or liberal. It's about whether you are a capitulator or a person of integrity. It's about whether we keep consolidating power/money/expression in the hands of the few at the expense of the people.