The Scoop
A coalition of center-left and progressive groups is sending a message to Democratic attorneys general: Stop Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
In a letter shared with Semafor on Friday, nearly two dozen groups — including the Center for American Progress, American Economic Liberties Project, Public Citizen, the American Federation of Teachers, and others — told top Democratic state law enforcement officials to take antitrust action against Paramount, saying a merger between Paramount and WBD would result in higher consumer costs, thousands of layoffs, and the right-leaning consolidation of media properties.
“With President Trump having weaponized independent agencies and antitrust enforcers to do his political bidding, it is essential that states fill the void and aggressively protect consumers,” the groups wrote.
The letter noted the potential economic consequences of the Paramount-WBD tie-up and highlighted Paramount owner David Ellison’s perceived political views. Ellison would continue to mold CBS and, if the deal goes through, CNN in Trump’s political image, the groups warned.
If the deal is approved, the two networks “will fall under the control of billionaires who are seemingly willing and able to suppress credible reporting, tamp out dissent, and slant national news to favor the administration,” the letter said.
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Max’s view
On the surface, it’s not surprising that left-leaning groups would appeal to Democratic AGs to advocate against the merger.
Even if the groups succeed in pressing the AGs to take action, it will be difficult to scuttle the deal entirely without alignment with the federal government, which seems bent on approving it.
But the letter is yet another representation of the growing consensus on the left against consolidation that brings major news organizations under one roof, particularly when that house is owned by Ellison.
Despite his status as a longtime Democratic donor, Ellison’s acquisition of The Free Press and his installation of founder Bari Weiss atop CBS News also raised alarm from Democrats, who have criticized some of her editorial decisions as biased against the left. It also hasn’t been lost on Democrats that David Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, is close with Trump and has reportedly said that there would be major changes at CNN if the network is acquired by Paramount.
These factors have turned the Ellisons into Murdoch-like pariahs among many Democrats, and have brought together a somewhat ideologically diverse antitrust coalition, ranging from the more centrist wing of the Democratic Party to the progressive left. As Semafor reported earlier this year, prominent Senate Democrats like Cory Booker, D-N.J., are threatening to investigate Paramount, telling Ellison to preserve his communications with Trump after the executive failed to voluntarily show up for a hearing about the merger on Capitol Hill last month.
In recent years, only a small slice of anti-monopoly Democrats have shown they have a serious appetite for high-level media regulation. But the signatories on the letters suggest the growing political potency of the issue on the left, and foreshadow how Democrats are likely to use their regulatory and investigative focus if they return to power.
The View From Melrose Ave.
Ellison and Weiss say they want to return CBS News to the center, arguing that it had moved too far away ideologically from the majority of the US. Asked about how he would run CNN, Ellison said he would stay out of day-to-day operations, but that the network would follow CBS’ recent model.
“Editorial independence will absolutely be maintained,” Ellison told CNBC on Thursday. “It’s maintained at CBS. It’ll be maintained at CNN. And, really, who we want to talk to is the 70% of Americans and really around the world that identify as center-left, as center-right. And we want to be in the truth business. We want to be in the trust business. And that’s not going to change.”