Experts warn that David Ellison's promise of editorial independence for CNN and CBS News after the Paramount merger is a hollow one.

Paramount's settlement to clear the path for its Warner Bros. Discovery merger adds a new wrinkle for news divisions.

Elon Musk may soon have a stake in two of the largest television news operations in the U.S., thanks to the Paramount merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. Semafor reports that Paramount Skydance executives are looking for sources of cash and are considering asking the tech oligarch and world’s richest man to join a team of equity investors in the company.

One reported goal of the AGs was to have Ellison sell CNN in order to close the deal, though California’s Rob Bonta labeled that speculation. But yesterday morning, those AGs appeared to give up their fight.

The looming ownership of the network by David Ellison has caused anxiety in its newsroom for months. This much is known: CNN is on the brink of having a new owner. And it will have a new independent editorial board. But that is where certainties about the network’s future end.

As part of the settlement between Paramount and the state AGs, the news organizations will have a board of journalists monitoring their work, and disputes with management.

The potential ownership of CBS News and CNN under one corporate owner has generated months of fear, anxiety and loathing at both networks, but the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery settlement tries to resolve some of the issues with the establishment of an editorial independence board.

Did ABC, CNN and CBS each report about specific political criticisms against Democrats from Fred Durst, Krist Novoselic and Damon Albarn before the U.S. midterm elections? No, that's not true: A