Raskin: David Ellison, Trump Colluding to ‘Curtail Media Independence’

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin has penned a letter to Paramount CEO David Ellison accusing him of colluding with President Trump to “curtail media
independence, spread political censorship, and suppress dissent” as it seeks to close a pending $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

In the letter, Raskin references a Wall Street Journal report that Ellison offered assurances to the administration that he’d make sweeping changes to CNN if he was able to acquire the network, which Paramount has denied.

 “President Trump has made clear he wants both ‘new ownership as well as changes to CNN programming’,” Raskin wrote.”You have eagerly shown the President that you are going to deliver on both counts as if you are controlling organs of state media.”

In a recent New York Times op-ed, Ellison broke his silence about a lawsuit from a group of 12 state attorneys general seeking to block the merger, arguing that it’s about his ownership of CNN.

At the time, he noted that he does not aspire to lead CBS or CNN to “bend their newsrooms to my views.” He also said that news should be based on facts and truth and that CNN would remain independent and “continue to answer to the facts and to all the people they serve — not to any party or cause.”

Despite these commitments, Raskin argued that Ellison’s CBS takeover “already tells a sharply different story.”

“Your company appears to be colluding with the Trump Administration to promote political and ideological censorship at every turn by stifling, revising, or censoring any news stories that depart from the official government orthodoxy dictated by President Trump. CBS’s own reporters have shared how, under your leadership, the newsroom has catered to President Trump’s political whims and dictates under the watchful eye of a MAGA minder,” he wrote. “You are creating a media environment conducive to the kinds of authoritarian regimes President Trump favors, like those found in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, or Xi Jinping’s China.”

Over the past 12 months, Raskin says Ellison has failed to respond to four letters seeking answers about the Paramount Skydance and Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger and the collusion allegations.

He warned that the House Judiciary Committee is committed to scrutinizing how antitrust laws are being being enforced to promote the public interest, how market power abuses may be harming not only competition but consumers, workers, and the public generally, and whether the federal antitrust agencies are successfully promoting free competition and innovation or using governmental powers to “distort the market and undermine freedom of speech and freedom of the press, in violation of the First Amendment.” 

“Now that you have vowed to break your long silence, I invite you to a transcribed interview to tell Congress and America your story and answer the Committee’s questions about your Donald Trump-enabled shopping spree to consolidate news organizations, movie studios, cable channels, and streaming services,” he added.

The letter sets a deadline of no later than 5 p.m. on Aug. 26 to schedule the interview. A spokesperson for Paramount did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment on the letter.

More to come…