Veteran tech reporter Kara Swisher said Monday she would exit CNN, where she is a contributor, if the David Ellison-led Paramount succeeds in closing its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, claiming Ellison and his billionaire father Larry Ellison have demonstrated they have “no interest in journalism.”
During a conversation with journalist Margaret Talev at the celebration for the Toner Prizes, a Syracuse University-sponsored award for political journalism, Swisher called Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison “a terrible person.” Asked whether there was any scenario in which she remained at the cable news network, Swisher was characteristically blunt: “I don’t see how.”
“I don’t think they’ll be good owners,” she continued. “They’ve already shown several times, including editorial choices…that they have no interest in journalism, and I refuse to work for an organization that doesn’t respect journalists.”
A Paramount spokesperson did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Swisher said she understood the need for job cuts in the media industry, which has already impacted CBS News, where Ellison has installed opinion journalist Bari Weiss to overhaul the news division. Swisher acknowledged the high cost structure of linear television, urging news organizations to adapt to a digital future.
“That’s not my issue, there needs to be cuts,” Swisher said. “It’s a basic disdain for it as anything useful that there’s not a way to reform it except for hiring someone who isn’t a journalist. I’m sorry, I just — there’s no reason for me to do that, and on some level, I just don’t have to.”
Swisher also commended former CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane, who hosted the Monday celebration, for leaving and joining MeidasTouch as its chief Washington correspondent.
“You’ll love it out here, it’s much better,” she said. “You don’t want to work for the Ellisons.”
Ellison has said he would respect CNN’s editorial independence. Swisher vowed in December to leave CNN if the Ellisons succeeded in their quest to acquire WBD, which has become far more likely since Netflix exited the bidding war.
“I’m walking right out of there the day they get there,” Swisher told her Pivot podcast co-host Scott Galloway. “I’m walking, and there’s no way I’m working for these terrible people.”
Watch the clip of Swisher’s remarks below:
