With Paramount set to take over WBD, Trump just steered a major news outlet into the hands of a crony
Another major media conglomerate teeters on the precipice of being absorbed by a deep-pocketed ally of President Donald Trump and his administration.
At the end of last week, Netflix had a signed deal to purchase the theatrical and streaming divisions of Warner Bros., with the company’s cable division — including CNN — set to be spun off into a separate company. Netflix had previously defeated a rival offer for all of Warner Bros. from Paramount, the media conglomerate owned by David Ellison, a Trump favorite and the son of the president’s buddy Larry Ellison, the billionaire.
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Whether it’s the Des Moines Register’s publication of an unfavorable election poll, a routine edit of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, or the Associated Press’s decision in its authoritative stylebook to continue to use “Gulf of Mexico,” Donald Trump and the White House have used executive authority and legal reprisals in an effort to punish and suppress press coverage that runs contrary to the administration’s preferred narratives.
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The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.