Many CNN employees are so worried over the evolving merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery that they have turned their boss’s office into a makeshift “psychiatrist’s couch,” according to a report.
Paramount Skydance is in the midst of buying out Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, and left-wing CNN employees are worried that Paramount boss David Ellison will mean trouble for them because he is a known Donald Trump associate, the New York Times reports.
Liberal CNN employees and talent are looking at Ellison’s decision to bring left-leaning centrist Bari Weiss in at CBS News to set the news arm of the network back on track, closer to actual news instead of left-wing propaganda. And CNN staffers are worried something like that might happen to them if Ellison gets control of Warner Bros.
CNN staffers are worried over Ellison’s connections to Trump — as well as that of Ellison’s father, Larry, who is a huge Trump donor. These employees are apparently fretting that CNN will be forced to make a turn to the right if Ellison gets control, and they are voicing their worries to CNN executive Amy Entelis, the paper adds.
Amy Entelis speaks during the CNN Searching for Spain with Eva Longoria Screening and Reception on April 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for CNN)
“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’s couch for anchors and correspondents, who often drop in to air their anxieties about the looming changes,” the Times wrote.
CNNers are also riled by rumors that Ellison will turn the long-struggling cable “news” network over to Weiss.
CNN CEO Mark Thompson, though, has insisted that he will not share any oversight of the network with anyone else. But that would leave him with the only option of resigning if Ellison insists.
Top CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has also attacked Bari Weiss and said he would refuse to work with her if Ellison were to put her in charge of the network, the Times added.
Meanwhile, despite being in fewer homes, Fox News continues to steamroll over ratings-starved CNN. As the year kicked off in January, for instance, CNN had only averaged 580,000 total primetime viewers and 105,000 average viewers in the 25-54 age group that sets advertiser rates for 2025.
In comparison, Fox News increased its total viewership by double-digits in 2025. Average total primetime viewers at Fox were up 14 percent to 2.72 million, which is nearly five times as many primetime viewers as CNN. Throughout the full day, Fox News increased its 2025 total viewers by 18 percent over 2024, with a 1.7 million average.
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