Ellison insists CNN will remain independent, just like CBS

CNN’s new owner continues to pledge that the network will remain independent. Appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box (via The Wrap) for the first time since the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger on Tuesday, Skydance CEO David Ellison assured viewers he wouldn’t put his fingers on the scale at CNN, and, to be fair, he hasn’t done that at CBS. He installed Bari Weiss, an unqualified ideologue and billionaire whisperer, to do that for him, while placating the Trump administration’s orders to install a conservative ombudsman to make sure CBS didn’t upset the delicate disposition of American conservatives. He also paid the Trump administration $16 million to allow the Paramount acquisition to go through. But we digress; on CNBC, Ellison, looking like a man in a hot dog suit asking who drove a hot dog car into a building, insisted he’s prioritizing “stability” at the network, “given everything everyone’s been through”, e.g., everything he’s just done. To that end, he claimed he would not replace current CNN chairman and CEO Mark Thompson, who he says has “done a phenomenal job.” Ellison says he believes “in editorial independence across the news organization,” which explains why no one stopped Weiss from punting a story on ICE detention centers earlier this year.