BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor turned independent journalist, knows a thing or two about what journalism is about: "The truth."
Speaking to USA TODAY at the 37th GLAAD Media Awards, Lemon chimed in about Paramount's pending purchase of Warner Bros., which includes his former employer, CNN, and what's already happening at CBS. In recent months, the network has received criticism over its cancellation of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" and its appointment of Bari Weiss as CBS News' editor-in-chief.
Lemon, rarely one to mince words, called it "a bit unfortunate."
"It appears that [Paramount is] trying to take an organization, especially CBS News, that's built on journalism and move it in a certain direction politically, and that's not what journalism is about," Lemon, 60, said on the red carpet. "Journalism is about the truth, and the truth has no right or no left, it's just what is."
In July 2025, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved a merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media. Skydance purchased Paramount, which includes the CBS broadcast television network, for $8.4 billion.
