Veteran CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour said Wednesday she was “concerned” about billionaire media executive David Ellison’s potential acquisition of CNN through Paramount Skydance’s proposed takeover of the network’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
“Clearly, I’m concerned — and I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about the corporate thing that’s underway — but I am obviously, as a person, as a journalist with a record, concerned,” Amanpour said during a panel discussion at the Sir Henry Evans Investigative Journalism Summit in London.
The veteran CNN anchor pointed to changes at CBS News under Ellison’s leadership as a warning sign for CNN employees and viewers.
“I’m concerned based on what’s happened to the other things that he’s taken over already, like CBS News, right?” Amanpour said. “I mean, do I have to list what’s happening there? I mean, hemorrhaging viewers, probably hemorrhaging money, this ideological realignment of CBS and the destruction, potentially, of ‘60 Minutes.’”
Amanpour, who has worked at CNN since 1983, said she hopes the network maintains editorial independence if the deal closes.
“I would like to think that we would have the very basic, which is editorial independence,” Amanpour said. “I’m hoping for that. I know many of us at CNN are incredibly — including leadership — are very, very committed to that, clearly.”
JAKE TAPPER RUEFULLY REVEALS CNN WILL BE AFFECTED BY PARAMOUNT’S LOOMING TAKEOVER OF NETWORK
Paramount Skydance, led by Ellison, the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, is pursuing a reported $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company.
Ellison last year acquired CBS News and installed journalist Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief, tasking her with expanding conservative viewpoints at the network.
The leadership changes at CBS News have sparked internal controversy in recent months, including backlash over the temporary delay of a planned “60 Minutes” report focused on El Salvador’s CECOT prison, where the Trump administration deported Venezuelan migrants.
CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi alleged the segment had been “spiked” in December for political reasons, while Weiss defended the decision by saying the report lacked sufficient sourcing and required comment from a Trump administration official before airing. The report eventually aired in January.
CBS, BARI WEISS FACING MOUNTING BACKLASH FROM LIBERAL CRITICS OVER YANKING ’60 MINUTES’ SEGMENT
President Donald Trump has also publicly criticized CNN and previously suggested Warner Bros. Discovery should divest the network as part of any broader corporate transaction, calling its current ownership “a very dishonest group of people.”
Fox News Digital reached out to David Ellison for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
Fox News’ Brian Flood and Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
