A group of nine press freedom advocacy groups on Tuesday warned that the impending Paramount merger with Warner Bros. represents an “existential threat to the free press, independent media and free speech,” suggesting CNN will be the next to suffer the drastic firings and turmoil that “60 Minutes” has been going through in recent days.
“The firings at CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ are a grotesque effort taken straight from an authoritarian handbook to appease a sitting president and dismantle one of the loudest voices in investigative journalism,” the groups wrote in a joint letter sent to TheWrap. “This is only the beginning.”
The undersigned include the Coalition for Women In Journalism, Committee for the First Amendment, Common Cause, Democracy Defenders Fund, International Documentary Association, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Free Press, National Press Photographers Association and Reporters Without Borders.
The letter was sent a day after reports that “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley, the decorated journalist and former “CBS Evening News” anchor, blew up at the show’s new executive producer Nick Bilton at a Monday morning meeting, saying CBS News chief Bari Weiss was “murdering” the 57-year-old TV newsmagazine and questioning his qualifications. Weiss did not attend the meeting, reportedly because staff have been vocally upset about a wave of firings from the week before.
“Bari Weiss’ shameless actions fulfill the Ellisons’ commitment to President Trump to remake CBS to his liking,” the letter continues. “Larry Ellison has reportedly promised to do the same at CNN if allowed to take control through the pending Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. Not because it makes any business sense, but because they seek to control the public discourse.
“The Paramount merger represents an existential threat to the free press, independent media, and free speech in this country and beyond, and should not be allowed to move forward. We cannot let this blow to the bedrock of our democracy be lost in the constant barrage of scandal, corruption, and abuse of power. We have to make the story heard. It’s what ’60 Minutes’ would have done; it’s what the Fourth Estate is tasked with doing; it’s what Trump and the Ellisons want to prevent. Don’t let them.”
