David Ellison’s move to keep Mark Thompson atop CNN is beginning to answer one of the biggest questions surrounding Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery: Who will wield power over the company’s two major news organizations?
But whether Thompson’s apparent staying power ultimately comes at Bari Weiss’ expense remains another open question.
Ellison has asked Thompson to remain CNN CEO and has discussed a new contract with him, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, with Reuters confirming the talks. The New York Times subsequently reported that the two sides are negotiating an arrangement that would keep Thompson atop CNN for at least the next year, with Weiss not expected to have editorial or operational oversight of CNN when the deal closes (as TheWrap previously reported).
The development would appear to strengthen Thompson’s hand at CNN and, at least initially, establish a boundary around Weiss’ authority. It could also ease some concerns among lawmakers, regulators and other merger critics about Ellison’s potential influence over CNN, whose editorial independence emerged as a key issue surrounding the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.
But two former senior TV news executives who spoke with TheWrap offered different interpretations of what the move could mean longer term — including whether CNN and CBS News ultimately remain separate at all.
“I wouldn’t read this as Mark winning a contest with Bari, or as a commitment to keep CNN and CBS News operating separately,” one former senior TV news executive told TheWrap. “It’s an immediate answer to a leadership question meant to bring some peace in the short term.”
A second former senior TV news executive said Thompson would need significant independence for the arrangement to work.
“To be effective, Mark would have to have complete editorial authority, and he would have to have the same reporting structure that Bari has at CBS,” the executive told TheWrap.
The second executive also said keeping Thompson at CNN does not necessarily mean CNN and CBS News will remain editorially distinct over the long term. With Paramount preparing to integrate the companies and find billions in merger cost savings, the executive argued that ultimately putting the news organizations under a single leadership structure could make more sense than maintaining two competing operations.
“If you own two separate news organizations, it makes more sense to have them both flow up within the same funnel,” the executive said, adding that cost cuts would be easier to achieve with “a single vision, rather than two competing camps vying for scarce resources.”
The financial stakes are considerable. CNN is on track to generate roughly $650 million in profit this year, according to the Times, while the combined company is expected to carry about $80 billion in debt.
That leaves Weiss as perhaps the biggest variable.
The Weiss factor
Weiss’ time at the helm of CBS News has been rocked by controversy, questions about editorial independence, layoffs, departures and ratings declines at flagship programs including “CBS Evening News” and “60 Minutes.”
The second former senior TV news executive was sharply critical of Weiss’ tenure at CBS News and argued that Ellison should put both news organizations under Thompson.
“They have an opportunity right now to declare the Bari experiment a complete bust and centralize all news under Mark,” the executive said.
That is one former executive’s assessment, not an indication that Ellison has made such a decision. There is no public indication that Paramount plans to remove Weiss. The Times reported Thursday that Weiss retains the support of the Ellison family and is expected to remain in her current role when the deal closes, though her role could eventually change. Paramount has previously said Weiss has Ellison’s “full support.”
Still, the prospect of Thompson remaining at CNN introduces a new dynamic less than a year after Ellison installed Weiss at CBS News with a mandate to overhaul the legacy news organization.
Two different paths
Thompson and Weiss represent markedly different approaches to running major news institutions. Thompson, the former director-general of the BBC and CEO of The New York Times, was brought into CNN in 2023 to steer the network through the decline of traditional cable television and build out its digital and streaming businesses. Weiss arrived at CBS News last year after Paramount acquired The Free Press and has moved aggressively to reshape the news division.
Even if CNN and CBS News maintain separate editorial leadership, the first former senior TV news executive said there are clear areas where the organizations could work together, particularly in newsgathering and international coverage.
The second executive similarly argued that Paramount leadership would need to create a culture of collaboration between CNN and CBS News even if their operations remain separate, both to pursue growth and identify potential cost savings.
That could leave Ellison with several options: maintain Thompson and Weiss as separate power centers, preserve distinct editorial operations while combining resources elsewhere, or eventually put the two organizations under a common leadership structure.
Thompson himself warned CNN employees against assuming CNN and CBS News would be combined when he addressed his future during a company town hall last week.
“I want to stay if Paramount finds me useful,” Thompson said, while telling employees that Paramount had not yet explained how it planned to run CNN after the deal closes.
The longer-term relationship between the two organizations will also be shaped by the settlement that cleared a major obstacle to Paramount’s acquisition. Under the agreement with 12 state attorneys general, Paramount must establish a five-member News Editorial Independence Board within 180 days of closing to set guiding editorial principles and resolve specified disputes involving CNN and CBS News.
But questions remain about how much independence the board will actually have. Its members will be selected by Paramount’s board of directors and Ellison, raising questions about how effectively it can serve as a check on the company’s leadership.
For Thompson, the immediate question is how much authority he can secure in a new deal. For Weiss, it is whether her mandate remains confined to CBS News. And for Ellison, retaining Thompson alongside Weiss may provide something valuable as Paramount takes control of CNN: time to decide whether two very different news operations — and two very different leaders — ultimately belong under the same boss.
