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All the talk about blocking Paramount’s $111 billion megadeal for Warner Bros. has mainly revolved around how the deal impacts competition and removes a buyer from the marketplace. The combined company would be the largest theatrical distributor in the country. The merger would also likely catapult the studio into the top three streaming platforms by subscriber count.
But it’s the news side of the equation that’s also at play when it comes to at least 10 states’ effort to halt David Ellison’s Hollywood advance in court. The argument goes something like this: Paramount’s editorial independence has been deeply compromised by Donald Trump, whose White House holds the keys for regulatory approval of the deal, and the studio is committed to reshaping the news landscape to his liking.
Indeed, consumers challenging the merger have claimed that it will further erode investigative rigor and viewpoint diversity in the market for national TV news (read: more conservative-leaning programming). They’ve pointed to CBS News, producer of 60 Minutes, and CNN, America’s first and longest-running 24-hour cable news network, being brought under a single owner eager to cater to the administration.
