CNN’s new owner David Ellison is seen as a Trump ally, but he says he will not interfere with the network’s editorial independence

After Paramount and Warner Bros. officially closed their merger, David Ellison faced CNN staff on Tuesday and said the network’s news decisions would stay independent. The session was a town hall for employees of the new company, Skydance. Anderson Cooper, a CNN anchor, put the question to him in the room: would he interfere on the editorial side?

Status reporter Oliver Darcy wrote that Ellison said he believes “deeply in journalism” and described CNN as a “vital part of our democracy.” In the same account, Ellison promised to leave the news coverage alone. His father, Larry Ellison, is a prominent backer of President Donald Trump, and that family connection has been part of the public discussion around the new ownership.

Cooper did not let the point pass. “You’re pledging not to interfere with editorial at CNN?” he asked, according to Zeteo News media reporter Justin Baragona. Ellison promised “to support news independence,” Baragona wrote on X. Reports of the town hall treat that answer as his public commitment not to step into CNN’s editorial work.

Cost cuts, White House access, and the newsroom’s next leader come up in the same meeting

Darcy also reported that Ellison said he supports CNN’s efforts to have access restored to cover President Donald Trump. The network’s fight for press access has played out publicly, as when JD Vance took a job at CNN and Politico as the outlets sued to restore White House access.

On a separate point, Ellison claimed, “I’ve never met [Secretary of Defense] Pete Hegseth and I read that in the press,” Darcy noted. Both comments came during Cooper’s questioning.

The anchor then moved to jobs and to CBS News. He asked about possible layoffs and about some form of future merger with CBS News, which Ellison acquired in August 2025 after buying Paramount. Nothing in the reported exchange described a completed plan to join the two newsrooms.

Earlier on Tuesday, a company memo said management was seeking to save $6 billion, Variety reported. The same document told staff that “difficult decisions that affect our workforce” were ahead. When Cooper raised the subject, Ellison answered in terms that did not match the memo’s warning, according to Baragona.

“You cannot cut your way to growth,” he reportedly told the anchor. Baragona’s account did not say which teams would be cut or when the savings would land. The $6 billion figure remained the only number attached to the plan in those reports.

Before the deal closed, a dozen state attorneys general sued to stop the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger. The case followed criticism and concern about whether media independence would hold after the combination. A settlement recently cleared the path for the deal to be finalized.

Who runs CNN’s news division for the long term is still not settled in those accounts. Mark Thompson, the current CNN chief, has repeatedly said he wants to stay in the role. Other reporting has raised the chance that Bari Weiss, whom Ellison installed as head of CBS News, would also be given control of CNN.

Both of them were in the room, Darcy wrote on BlueSky. “Both CNN chief Mark Thompson and CBS News chief Bari Weiss are in attendance. I am told they are seated near each other, separated by one person,” he wrote. He did not describe any exchange between them.