Over nearly five decades, CNN has survived multiple owners, ratings ups and downs, and attacks by President Trump.<\/p>\n
Now, its journalists are bracing for its most dramatic transformation yet: a corporate merger that would put the 24-hour cable network under the same ownership as CBS News.<\/p>\n
David Ellison, the technology heir who controls Paramount, the owner of CBS, is poised to complete a $111 billion purchase<\/a> of CNN\u2019s parent company as soon as next month.<\/p>\n Mr. Ellison has not publicly detailed what he has in store for CNN. But the network\u2019s newsroom is wary of his conspicuous coziness with Mr. Trump and the prospect that he may assign some oversight of CNN to Bari Weiss, his pick to run CBS News after he bought Paramount last year.<\/p>\n Ms. Weiss, who had virtually no broadcasting experience before taking over in October, has reshaped CBS News in occasionally chaotic ways<\/a>, recently firing the leadership of the network\u2019s flagship, \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d Several on-air correspondents who were fired<\/a> later accused her of editorial interference, which she has denied<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mr. Ellison and his deputies are weighing whether to put Ms. Weiss in charge of CNN, which is far larger than CBS News and is a major profit center, two people familiar with their thinking said. He has remained supportive of Ms. Weiss, despite grumbling from journalists.<\/p>\n Anderson Cooper, the channel\u2019s biggest star, has told colleagues at CNN that he does not want to work for Ms. Weiss, two people familiar with his remarks said. Mr. Cooper, who overlapped with Ms. Weiss at CBS as a correspondent at \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d left that show<\/a> this spring after 20 years.<\/p>\n A spokeswoman for Mr. Cooper declined to comment.<\/p>\n One option under consideration by Mr. Ellison would be to pair Ms. Weiss with a more experienced TV executive who could handle the technical and financial aspects of the network, two people briefed on internal discussions said.<\/p>\n Mark Thompson, CNN\u2019s chief executive, has not yet heard from Mr. Ellison’s team about what role he will play after the merger, two people briefed on discussions between the companies said. He recently told Paramount officials that he would not share oversight of CNN with another executive, the people said. He declined to comment.<\/p>\n Paramount is merging with Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN and other properties, including HBO. A combination of CBS News, home to \u201cFace the Nation\u201d as well as \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d with CNN, a pioneer of 24-hour cable news that is on track to generate $650 million in profit this year, would be one of the largest consolidations in news gathering in decades.<\/p>\n Mr. Ellison has said in interviews that he wants his news networks to appeal to the middle \u201c70 percent\u201d of Americans, and he said recently<\/a> that CNN\u2019s \u201ceditorial independence will absolutely be maintained.\u201d<\/p>\n But Mr. Ellison has made repeated overtures to Mr. Trump as he has amassed his corporate empire. He hosted a dinner<\/a> in Washington in April in the president\u2019s honor, as the Trump administration was deciding whether to object to Mr. Ellison\u2019s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery; he also attended an Ultimate Fighting Championship bout with the president at the White House this month. Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, said in March that he was excited<\/a> about CNN\u2019s prospective new ownership, adding, \u201cThe sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Ellison\u2019s relationship with Mr. Trump has raised alarms at CNN, according to interviews with network correspondents and employees.<\/p>\n As the merger approaches, the 18th-floor Manhattan office of Amy Entelis, the CNN executive in charge of on-air talent, has turned into something of a psychiatrist\u2019s couch for anchors and correspondents, who often drop in to air their anxieties about the looming changes. <\/p>\n Jake Tapper, CNN\u2019s lead Washington anchor, met with Mr. Ellison this spring in Los Angeles, two people familiar with his travel plans said. Their representatives declined to say what the men had discussed.<\/p>\n The tech journalist Kara Swisher, who is a regular presence on CNN in addition to her podcasting ventures, said she would not continue to work for the TV network if Mr. Ellison installed someone to replace Mr. Thompson as its top leader.<\/p>\n In an interview, Ms. Swisher pointed to the unfolding situation at CBS News as a rationale. \u201cSo far, there\u2019s nothing I\u2019ve seen that indicates that they\u2019re serious about creating a modern digital news organization,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n