Chances are that by now you have read about Paramount’s effort to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. But what you likely have missed is the lawsuit filed by twelve state attorneys general in federal court to block the sale — and especially, how that suit infringes on First Amendment protections for freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
I want to make my interests in this case clear. For the past year, I have been a senior adviser at RedBird Capital, a private equity company with a large stake in Paramount and in the acquisition of WBD. But more important, I spent 55 years as a reporter — starting in newspapers, then almost three decades working at two of the major broadcast networks, and ending with 21 years in cable news.
What — you may be asking — does the AGs’ antitrust lawsuit have to do with the First Amendment? That is precisely the question I want to address. If you read the lawsuit, it alleges the merger would harm competition in three narrowly-defined markets: wide-release theatrical films, anticipated “top-grossing” theatrical films, and affiliate fees from cable television distributors.
There is no mention of antitrust violations from the potential merger of CBS News — which Paramount now owns — and CNN, which is part of WBD. And there is a good reason for that. The AGs’ lawsuit is based on California’s Cartwright Act, that state’s version of federal antitrust law. And what does the Cartwright Act say about the merger of news operations and the threat to news diversity? Absolutely nothing.
