CNNs Mark Thompson to stay on after Ellison takeover, but some insiders are skeptical network wont change course

CNN’s Mark Thompson announced Monday that he will be staying on as the network’s chairman and editor-in-chief, but some insiders were skeptical of his assurances that the left-leaning network won’t change course under new ownership.With Paramount Skydance’s $81 billion acquisition of CNN’s parent Warner Bros.Discovery set to close Tuesday, Thompson will report directly to CEO David Ellison, the chairman and chief executive of the combined company named just Skydance, according to a press release.

CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss is set to stay in her role, the announcement said.“Having now spoken to [Skydance executives] at length on the topic, I have real confidence that they both understand and will fully support the principle and practice of the kind of independent news that CNN has always stood for,” Thompson wrote in a memo to employees.However, a TV executive close to the situation said change was still on the horizon at CNN.“[President] Trump will be furious if/when it doesn’t change.Ellison promised Trump it would.

That’s what matters,” the source said.“Thompson will be gone in 12 to 18 months.The simple truth is that Thompson is a temp.

He is a stall tactic,” the person added.Thompson’s current contract is due to expire in the spring, but he has been in talks with executives to renew his terms, the New York Times previously reported.Thompson said in his memo that some of the “specifics of how CNN will plug into and operate in the new company have yet to be finalized” since the merger process is ongoing, but he will have “the same responsibilities and prerogatives that I have now.”The TV exec speculated that Thompson will merge CNN and CBS to “save cost,” and then a new CEO will likely be hired to run the combined company. “It’s nonsensical to run two very expensive news divisions in one global news company,” the person said, adding that Weiss is unlikely to end up running the combined companies.Monday’...