{"id":122595,"date":"2026-02-27T12:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/mood-is-horrific-inside-cnn-as-staffers-brace-for-change-amid-potential-paramount-takeover-insiders-say-122595"},"modified":"2026-02-27T12:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T17:50:09","slug":"mood-is-horrific-inside-cnn-as-staffers-brace-for-change-amid-potential-paramount-takeover-insiders-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/mood-is-horrific-inside-cnn-as-staffers-brace-for-change-amid-potential-paramount-takeover-insiders-say-122595","title":{"rendered":"Mood is \u2018horrific\u2019 inside CNN as staffers brace for change amid potential Paramount takeover, insiders say"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The mood inside CNN was “horrific” on Friday as network leadership sought to calm fears of anxious staffers, with parent company Warner Bros. Discovery appearing set to hand control of the network to Paramount CEO David Ellison<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Netflix dropped its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday after the company announced Paramount’s latest bid to buy all of its assets, including CNN, was “superior.” The sale to Paramount would put Ellison \u2014 who has a close relationship with President Donald Trump and has angered liberals for installing Bari Weiss<\/a> as editor-in-chief of CBS News \u2014 in charge of CNN.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“The mood is horrific,” a CNN insider told Fox News Digital. “People are very upset.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

NETFLIX BACKS OUT OF WARNER BROS BIDDING WAR AFTER PARAMOUNT MADE ‘SUPERIOR’ OFFER<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A second CNN insider told Fox News Digital that staffers feel “a mix of despair, apprehension and curiosity.”<\/p>\n

“Look, I think this is a place that has gone through a lot. A lot of mergers in the past decade. A lot of \u2018fresh\u2019 starts,” the CNN insider said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think there is an underlying fear of mixing two news divisions,” they continued. “Who is gonna get canned?”<\/p>\n

While most corporate mergers of this magnitude come with headcount reductions, many CNN staffers are well aware that CBS News has undergone both layoffs and directional changes since Ellison took over last year. Weiss, who was handpicked by Ellison,\u00a0has bluntly told staffers they are “not producing a product that enough people want.” She has also taken steps to tamp down the liberal slant that was prominent at CBS News before the Ellison takeover. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, CNN may be in the same boat, and the possibility that Weiss will have anything to do with the struggling cable network has spooked staffers, some of whom turned on former CEO Chris Licht<\/a> when he tried to tamp down CNN’s partisanship that marked the Jeff Zucker era.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the news of Netflix backing out broke, current CNN CEO Mark Thompson<\/a> sent a memo to staffers announcing an internal town hall “to discuss next steps and to answer your questions to the best of our ability.”<\/p>\n

BARI WEISS TELLS CBS NEWS STAFF THEY’RE ‘NOT PRODUCING A PRODUCT THAT ENOUGH PEOPLE WANT’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Despite all the speculation you\u2019ve read during this process, I\u2019d suggest that you don\u2019t jump to conclusions about the future until we know more. And secondly let\u2019s not forget our duty to our audience,” Thompson wrote in the memo obtained by Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re 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,” he continued. “Let\u2019s continue to focus on delivering the best possible journalism to the millions of people who rely on us all around the world.”<\/p>\n

While Thompson did his best to quell concerns, the insider also suggested the possibility of talent fleeing CNN ahead of the Ellison takeover if they can afford it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A second insider said the two main concerns are “job loss” and “editorial indifference,” noting the former “greatly outranks” the latter. Specifically, CNN staffers worry about a potential “bloodbath” if CBS News and CNN were to merge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first CNN insider has grown accustomed to corporate change \u2014 CNN has had several corporate parents over the decades, including Time Warner and AT&T \u2014 and understands that Ellison wouldn’t formally have control for quite some time if the acquisition goes through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It won\u2019t close until year end. Maybe longer,” they said. “And between now and then the world will change in major ways. So, when it closes, the lay of the land and their intentions may change \u2026 I think it\u2019s best to reserve judgement and be calm and let it all play out.”<\/p>\n

BARI WEISS SUGGESTS CECOT ’60 MINUTES’ PIECE SHE DELAYED WASN’T ‘FAIR’ IN MEMO TO STAFFERS<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, CNN has largely embraced anti-Trump programming for much of the last decade, and the president has responded by publicly criticizing the network on a regular basis. Last year, The Wall Street Journal\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that Ellison told Trump officials that he’d make sweeping changes to CNN if he became its owner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first CNN insider is trying to keep an “open mind” but said it\u2019s easy to understand why staffers are upset given the reporting on Ellison and Trump discussing changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s existential for the brand to be owned by an individual who has personal allegiance to a political figure and is not even answering to public markets,” they told Fox News Digital<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“But \u2014 I mean what I\u2019m saying. It\u2019s not just me trying to take a deep breath. I truly believe we can only react to what is, not what might be,” they continued. “And we have no idea what the world will look like when this closes.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/mood-horrific-inside-cnn-staffers-brace-change-amid-potential-paramount-takeover-insiders-say <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mood inside CNN was “horrific” on Friday as network leadership sought to calm fears of anxious staffers, with parent company Warner Bros. Discovery appearing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_2902945987_2902945987":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[16563],"tags":[],"stock_ticker":[],"class_list":["post-122595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-market-news","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMood is \u2018horrific\u2019 inside CNN as staffers brace for change amid potential Paramount takeover, insiders say - Wall Street PR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/mood-is-horrific-inside-cnn-as-staffers-brace-for-change-amid-potential-paramount-takeover-insiders-say-122595\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mood is \u2018horrific\u2019 inside CNN as staffers brace for change amid potential Paramount takeover, insiders say - Wall Street PR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The mood inside CNN was “horrific” on Friday as network leadership sought to calm fears of anxious staffers, with parent company Warner Bros. 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