Anxiety Takes Over at CNN After Paramount Merger, Staffers Await a 'Bloodbath'
With the last major obstacle removed for Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, fear is running wild at CNN.
On Monday, Paramount settled a lawsuit filed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, clearing the way to take over CNN’s parent company in the next few weeks, according to the New York Post.
Paramount’s ownership brought wholesale changes to CBS in recent months, leading to fears within CNN that it will face a major overhaul.
“People are very nervous,” one CNN staffer said.
“It’s dark. It’s like when you do hurricane coverage. You see the storm spinning off the coast of Haiti and moving towards Florida, and you’re just waiting, and you’re like, ‘Oh, [expletive]’.”
“Bloodbath coming, including at CNN,” one TV executive said. “That’s the next big step — slashing and burning.”
Paramount has said it expects the merger will cut about $6 billion in costs. CNN staffers are uncertain what that could mean to them.
“There’s been a complete absence of information about what’s going on and who is going to be in charge,” a CNN staffer said.
“What’s been playing out at CBS News is fueling a deeper sense of dread and anxiety,” a CNN insider said.
Paramount now is set to own CNN after the 12 Democrat AGs crumbled, which means a far left wing CNN will die. This is why Democrats are panicking. All they have now on the far left is MSNBC, which no one watches, and the New York Times. Major media shift. pic.twitter.com/iqTrRMqqW3
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 22, 2026
As part of Paramount’s deal to settle the suit, it promised to create an editorial board for CBS and CNN, but that drew scorn from one CNN source.
“It’s been proven in this country when you do these sorts of things, it’s not enforceable,” one staffer said.
Variety noted that the mood of CNN staffers is “like a funeral.”
CNN contributor Kara Swisher said she will be out the door as soon as possible, according to Deadline.
On her Tuesday podcast, Swisher said that she has “asked my agent to get me out of my contract. It ends December 31, so it’s only a few months, right? I just can’t. … I was trying to figure out ways I could work with them in some like licensing way, but then I thought, ‘F*** these guys! I don’t want to work for them. I just don’t.”
As noted by NBC News, the merger combines Paramount and Warner Bros. film studios and the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services.
The settlement requires the merged company to release at least 30 films per year for two years and then 32 films a year for three years.
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