Paramount Skydance merger creates editorial board for CNN and CBS News

MUMBAI: The merger may be making headlines, but the new owners are also putting a boardroom around the newsroom. Paramount Skydance’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery will bring CNN and CBS News under the same corporate umbrella, with the merger settlement creating an Editorial Independence Board to oversee news standards and disputes.

The board is part of an agreement between Paramount and state attorneys general and is intended to provide oversight of editorial practices at both news organisations once the combined company is formed.

The five-member Editorial Independence Board will establish “News Editorial Principles” based on the existing standards and practices of CNN and CBS News, with a focus on journalistic integrity, fairness, independence and accuracy.

Its remit will extend beyond setting principles. The board will be able to resolve disputes involving CBS News or CNN employees and management of the combined entity over alleged breaches of those principles, reporting bias or failures to meet agreed reporting fairness standards.

It will also monitor adherence to ethical journalism and editorial independence, including independence from the combined company’s ownership and shareholders.

The board will be appointed by the combined company’s board of directors within 180 days of the transaction closing. Its members will serve three-year terms and can be removed only for good cause.

All five members must have at least 10 years of journalism experience. They can be active or retired journalists, while the agreement states that no more than two members can be affiliated with the same political party.

Government officials are excluded from the arrangement. No member of a government or governmental entity can serve on the board, while federal, state and local governments will have no approval rights over appointments.

The agreement also bars officers, directors, shareholders and non-journalist employees or contractors of the combined company from serving on the board.

The board will report to the corporate board through a chief compliance officer, putting its editorial oversight within the company’s formal governance structure.

The arrangement could leave room for experienced journalists already connected to the companies or their wider corporate networks to be considered, although the source material does not confirm any appointments. Names including Norah O’Donnell and Jake Tapper have been raised as potential possibilities, while RedBird Capital has former journalists such as Chris Wallace, Graydon Carter and Matthew Garrahan among its staff.

The board’s remit will cover news and editorial content produced with the intention of distribution in the US. That would encompass CBS News’ output and a substantial portion of CNN’s operations, although CNN also has a significant international presence.

The creation of the board comes as the merger reshapes the US television news landscape. The source material describes the combined CNN and CBS News operation as potentially unrivalled in scale following the separation of NBC News, MS NOW and CNBC across different corporate structures.

The real test, however, will come after the board is formed. While its stated responsibilities include resolving disputes and monitoring editorial independence, the extent to which it influences newsroom decisions will depend on how its powers are exercised once the combined company is operating.

For now, the settlement has put an unusual new fixture between the newsroom and the boardroom: a five-member panel tasked with ensuring that the merger changes the ownership structure without blurring the lines around editorial standards.