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CNN staffers in a panic over Paramount takeover — what’s likely in store for cable news giant
NY Post ^ | 2/27/26 | Charles Gasparino

Posted on 02/27/2026 3:50:02 PM PST by Libloather

CNN staffers are freaking out after learning that their left-leaning network’s owner Warner Bros. Discovery will be acquired by Paramount Skydance — even as insiders confirmed that the new owners plan to take a more politically centrist approach to news, The Post has learned.

Top talent and low-level producers alike are apoplectic that CNN is being acquired by Paramount Skydance, the media giant that scooped up CBS last year – and which subsequently tapped 41-year-old newshound Bari Weiss to root out liberal bias at the network.

Now, CNN staffers are so panicked that the network’s president Mark Thompson was forced to send out a memo late Thursday to tamp down anxiety. The merger still requires a greenlight from Trump’s Department of Justice, among other regulatory approvals.

“Despite all the speculation you’ve read during this process, I’d suggest that you don’t jump to conclusions about the future until we know more,” Thompson wrote late Thursday after it became clear that PSKY emerged victorious over Netflix.

“And secondly let’s not forget our duty to our audience. We’re still near the start of what is already an incredibly newsy year at home and abroad, one that will culminate with critical U.S. midterm elections and who knows what else,” Thompson added.

On one hand, viewers can expect a more Trump-friendly CNN now that it will be owned by the media conglomerate known as PSKY, run by indie producer David Ellison in a deal financed by his dad, the long-time Trump supporting Oracle co-founder, Larry Ellison, people close to the company say.

But that doesn’t mean that CNN will be automatically transformed into a MAGA sounding board; in fact people close to the Ellisons’ burgeoning media empire say they expect a centrist CNN to emerge from their $80.5 billion purchase.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Local News; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: cable; cnn; commienetwork; news; paramount
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To: dfwgator

Ditto!


21 posted on 02/27/2026 5:09:16 PM PST by Hootowl
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To: dfwgator
And I watched CNN's Headline News just for Lynn Russell...


22 posted on 02/27/2026 5:15:58 PM PST by Alas Babylon! (Conservatives can't afford to sit out. Vote like your freedom depends on it, it does!)
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To: Libloather

bkmk


23 posted on 02/27/2026 5:20:48 PM PST by Mark (DONATE ONCE every 3 months. Is that a big deal?)
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To: Libloather

Learn to code, assholes.


24 posted on 02/27/2026 5:21:18 PM PST by WKUHilltopper
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To: Libloather

Fantasy headline to still think CNN is “the news giant.”


Total Audience Cut Nearly in Half: From 2017 through early 2025, CNN’s viewership was slashed by nearly 50%, with some metrics indicating a 47% drop in prime-time viewers.

In 2017, CNN averaged around 1 million primetime viewers. By 2025, that number dropped to roughly 573,000.
Average total day viewers dropped from 775,000 in 2017 to 432,000 in 2025.

The decline has affected profitability, with reports indicating a roughly $400 million drop in revenue from 2021 to 2023.

In July 2025, CNN averaged just under 500,000 primetime viewers, a 42% drop compared to the previous year, with the key 25-54 demographic plunging by 55%.
Following the 2024 election, CNN experienced a steep, immediate drop, with some reports noting a 52% decline in its primetime demographic compared to the 2020 election period.


25 posted on 02/27/2026 5:40:34 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: dfwgator

RE: once had a crush on Kathleen Sullivan

Then you forgot about her.
All the newsbabes knew you weren’t promising anything in the long run. Maybe just a broken heart.

It was just one of those things🎶
Just one of those crazy flings🎶
One of those bells that now and then rings
Just one of those things.

So goodbye, dear, and Amen
Here’s hoping we’ll meet now and then
It was great fun🎶
But it was just one of those things.🎶


26 posted on 02/27/2026 5:45:41 PM PST by frank ballenger (There's a battle outside and it's raging. It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. )
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To: Libloather

Weird when the communists know they have been building their own prison... are like... damn... we really did enslave ourselves...


27 posted on 02/27/2026 5:46:10 PM PST by WinstonSmith1984 (Make 1984 fiction again.)
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To: Spacetrucker

Blind people fall in love.


28 posted on 02/27/2026 5:53:48 PM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets ( Thorough planning and careful preparation is no substitute for wishful thinking. )
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To: Libloather

Well, it’s a strategy.

Groom millions into leftist syncophants. Then, start moving the needle rightward. Perhaps they will mostly go along. and our nation will stop its commie surge.


29 posted on 02/27/2026 6:11:55 PM PST by Persevero (You cannot comply your way out of tyranny. )
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There’s more.

KTLA insiders detail station bloodbath as beloved talent is fired

https://nypost.com/2026/02/27/us-news/inside-ktlas-layoffs-as-insiders-reveal-brutal-details/


30 posted on 02/27/2026 6:57:42 PM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: Alas Babylon!
Bring back Bobbie Battista!


31 posted on 02/27/2026 7:02:01 PM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: Bulwyf

She was more early 80s.


32 posted on 02/27/2026 7:10:04 PM PST by dfwgator ("I am Charlie Kirk!")
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To: dfwgator

Oh, I was kindergarten. I guess I was too busy playing with lego. I remember Bridgette Bardot though lol.


33 posted on 02/27/2026 7:48:42 PM PST by Bulwyf
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To: dfwgator

She got my attention when she was the studio host for ABC’s Winter Olympics coverage in 1984.


34 posted on 02/27/2026 8:59:41 PM PST by pburiak (You really think we can vote our way out of this? That's so cute...)
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To: FLT-bird

Right, what audience. The new management should just turn out the lights at CNN. It can’t be reformed. That would be fun.


35 posted on 02/28/2026 1:55:11 AM PST by DeplorablePaul
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To: DeplorablePaul

I laugh at the apparent predicament of the integrity-free, biased, loser CNN staff.

Hahaha.


36 posted on 02/28/2026 6:10:54 AM PST by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?)
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To: Libloather

Lefty Exec:

“We’re still near the start of what is already an incredibly newsy year at home and abroad, one that will culminate with critical U.S. midterm elections and who knows what else,”

I am trying to imagine “the news” where the talking heads start speaking impossible words:

“Nothing important happened today, this week, this month and this year. Medical experts suggest that you would improve your health by never watching this broadcast again. It increases stress and stress is bad for you. We will now remain here in silence for the rest of the broadcast.”


37 posted on 02/28/2026 6:16:46 AM PST by cgbg ("Your identity is how power treats you.")
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To: frank ballenger
In 2017, CNN averaged around 1 million primetime viewers. By 2025, that number dropped to roughly 573,000.

CNN lost its monopoly on airport TV monitors a while back. How much of that was due to the airport loss, or was that before 2017?

38 posted on 02/28/2026 6:53:43 AM PST by 17th Miss Regt (Fascist, deplorable, and proud of it!)
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To: Libloather
Taken over by Trump allies!


39 posted on 02/28/2026 8:09:41 AM PST by Albion Wilde (Yesterday only comes one time. —Sorrells Pickard)
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