FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
New York, Sept. 21, 2026 — California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced at a news conference that a coalition of state attorneys general has reached a settlement of its case opposing the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, which would put both CNN and CBS News under the control of the David Ellison-led Paramount Skydance.
The agreement requires the creation of an “independent” editorial board, to be appointed by and answering to Paramount’s board, to oversee CNN and CBS News and, according to Bonta, to “ensure independent, objective, fact-based reporting.”
The following can be attributed to Freedom of the Press Foundation Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern:
“A Paramount-appointed editorial independence board for CNN and CBS is worthless. The fish rots from the head, and this particular fish is headed by a compromised oligarch with a history of throwing journalists under the bus to advance his business interests.
“The editorial board creates the same First Amendment problems it’s supposed to solve — the government meddling in the news. It’s unclear how the attorneys general or courts can constitutionally hold Paramount accountable for the board’s actions or inaction without themselves interfering in content. The attorneys general might be fine with censorship when they’re the ones doing it, but what happens when successors with opposing political views inherit enforcement powers?
“And with respect to CBS, the editorial board makes even less sense. Ellison already traded away CBS’ editorial independence in his negotiations with Federal Communications Commission Chair and Trump loyalist Brendan Carr, hiring a career partisan as a “bias ombudsman” and committing in regulatory submissions to truthful and unbiased reporting — practically the same words Bonta uttered at his shameful press conference. To Carr, of course, that means reporting that is uncritical of the administration.
“Carr has said that he’d attempt to punish failure to abide by those terms, as he interprets them, as false statements to a federal agency. Bonta says his agreement is enforceable in court. So who will decide whether the news is fair, true, and unbiased? Will it be Carr, the bias ombudsman, the attorneys general, or the editorial board?
“Ultimately, the answer is Ellison, and by extension his buddy Donald Trump.”
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