CNN and CBS now share an owner

CNN has a new owner: Skydance.After a tumultuous, roughly yearlong process, Skydance-owned Paramount closed its $81 billion buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday. And beyond Hollywood, the mega merger brings two titans of the American TV news landscape - CBS and CNN - under the same roof.On the eve of the deal's completion, Skydance confirmed that CNN's Mark Thompson will stay on as editor-in-chief of the network - separate from CBS, where Bari Weiss remains at the helm. But how the combined company's news operations will look farther down the road is yet to be seen.Also Read: GoT, Harry Potter, Batman & more: The $110 billion Hollywood gold mine Paramount just boughtPolitics are also top of mind. The billionaire family of Skydance CEO David Ellison has a cozy relationship with President Donald Trump - who has been far from shy about targeting coverage he deems unfavorable from both CNN and CBS. Last month, his administration moved to bar CNN from the White House. And the network's new ownership arrives as coverage ramps up less than a month ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.Ellison has pledged to maintain "complete" editorial independence. Under a recent settlement with states that challenged the merger, the company also agreed to establish new monitoring of CBS and CNN by forming a "News Editorial Independence Board" within 180 days.Still, Skydance's corporate leaders will choose who sits on this board. And critics warn of the consequences of industry consolidation overall.CNN's editor-in-chief remainsSkydance announced Monday that Thompson - who has been CNN's chair and CEO since 2023 - would continue to lead the network. In a staff memo published by Business Insider and others, Thompson said he had "real confidence" Ellison and other Skydance leaders "will fully support the principle and practice of the kind of independent news that CNN has always stood for."Thompson, a former chief executive of the BBC and The New York Times, acknowledged that some details of how CNN will operate have yet to be finalized - but said he planned to lead the network "with the same responsibilities and prerogatives that I have now."CBS News and its hallmark "60 Minutes" program have already seen ample editorial turmoil since coming under Skydance ownership last year. For critics of those changes, news of Thompson staying at CNN marks a meaningful safeguard, but some experts cautioned that time will tell."Both CNN and CBS News will ultimately sit under the same corporate ownership, and ownership can exert influence in ways that are much more subtle than directly telling an editor what stories to cover," said J. Christopher Hamilton, an associate professor at Syracuse University.Also Read: Inside Hollywood's biggest plot twist: How Paramount closed $110 billion Warner Bros deal to create SkydanceThe long-term question "is whether that independence remains intact when it becomes costly or uncomfortable for the parent company," he added.Charles Schreger, an adjunct professor at NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, expects Thompson not to be influenced by politics - and said he doesn't think Skydance would keep the executive on if the company didn't "have the intention of letting him operate (CNN) in a neutral way."New editorial monitoringAccording to court documents, the new editorial independence body will include five "active or retired" journalists with at least 10 years of experience.Still, those members will all be appointed by and report to the combined company's board of directors. Ellison is staying in Skydance's top chairman spot."While it is termed independent, it is going to be filled with members appointed by Paramount," said Megan Duncan, an associate professor of journalism at Virginia Tech's School of Communication. She predicts that will "lessen the teeth of this board."Per the settlement, the board's responsibilities include establishing a set of "guiding editorial principles" based on CBS and CNN's standards and practices, resolving "any disputes" between both employees at the two networks and corporate management and "monitoring adherence to ethical journalism.""We're gonna make sure that CNN and CBS News are completely editorially independent," Ellison reiterated Tuesday, during a media event alongside his new co-CEO Ynon Kreiz.When asked in particular about conversations with Trump, Ellison later added "we have not talked to any political leader of any party about news - other than to say that we want to be in the truth business and we want to be in trust business."'Disappointed that we could not do more'Top prosecutors like California Attorney General Rob Bonta - who led the coalition of 12 states that initially sought to block the Paramount-Warner merger - have said this new board will help "ensure independent, objective, fact-based reporting."Still, others wished the settlement could've gone further. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong wanted a full divestiture of CNN and CBS and…