'No One Is Happy': CNN Staffers 'Devastated' as Warner Bros. Discovery-Paramount Deal Sparks Panic at Troubled Network
'No one is happy' at CNN about the proposed takeover by Paramount-Skydance.
Feb. 28 2026, Published 8:49 p.m. ET
Staffers at CNN are reportedly deeply afraid and filled with "dread" over the network likely becoming part of the more conservative Paramount-Skydance under a proposed new deal, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The left-leaning network could soon see changes similar to CBS News, with Republican billionaire David Ellison as the new boss if Warner Bros. Discovery sells its assets.
Netflix Bows Out of Warner Bros. Discovery Purchase
Netflix had been in the running to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, until Paramount made a 'superior' offer.
Paramount and Netflix had been in a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, but the streamer said it would leave the negotiations after Paramount put in what it called a "superior" revised bid that the company was unwilling to match on February 26.
CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, and employees are "devastated" by the prospect of the sale, one insider told Variety.
"No one is happy," a second staffer said, as the liberal news staff is quaking in their shoes with "dread" about what is to come.
'Don't Jump to Conclusions'
CNN's 'Newsnight' features one conservative panelist going up against four that lean heavily left.
CNN president Mark Thompson told employees in a memo about the possible sale to Paramount, "Despite all the speculation you've read during this process, I’d suggest that you don't jump to conclusions about the future until we know more."
He added, "Let's continue to focus on delivering the best possible journalism to the millions of people who rely on us all around the world."
CNN's ratings have plummeted in recent years. The network has lost 40 percent of its viewers since 2017, the year Donald Trump began his first term as president, and its content has taken a noticeable partisan shift to the left.
By 2023, CNN's primetime programming hit a 33-year ratings low.
'Fake News CNN'
Donald Trump openly refers to CNN as 'fake news' as the network's coverage of the president is highly critical.
Trump has gone so far as to not take questions from CNN's White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins due to the network's nonstop bashing of the president and his policies.
He openly calls CNN "fake news" when speaking to reporters, and repeats the claim frequently on his social media.
If Ellison ends up with the cable news network among his assets, CNN's openly anti-Trump proselytizing could soon change.
Ellison infamously brought in The Free Press founder Bari Weiss to clean the "woke" out of left-leaning CBS News in October 2025 after purchasing Paramount, and steer the operation back to more balanced reporting.
Bari Weiss Gives CBS News Staffers an Ultimatum
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Bari Weiss told CBS staffers that understands if they quit if she's 'not the right leader' for them.
Weiss's arrival led to nearly immediate resignations among liberal talent.
Just ahead of her taking the reins, CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickinson announced he would be leaving the network after 16 years.
Similarly, his co-anchor, Maurice DuBois, revealed he was "moving on" from the network, saying his job had been the "honor of a lifetime."
Weiss promoted hunky CBS Mornings co-host Tony Dokoupil to anchor the flagship evening news solo starting in January.
The former New York Times opinion page writer told staff in a Town Hall meeting at the start of the year that if their political views got in the way of objective reporting, they were free to hit the road.
"It’s a free country, and I completely respect if you decide I’m not the right leader for you, or this isn’t the right place at the right time,” she told staffers while outlining her more moderate and anti-woke vision for the network's news division.
