CNN insiders have sharply criticized a New York Times op-ed by Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison, who is seeking to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, according to media reporter Oliver Darcy. The proposed acquisition would bring CNN under the same ownership as CBS, combining two of the country's most prominent television news operations.

Speaking on the Status podcast Power Lines, Darcy said he spoke with more than a dozen CNN employees about whether Ellison's guest essay — his first public defense of the proposed deal — had changed their minds. The response, he reported, was a "resounding no."

Ellison controls CBS, which has undergone what critics describe as a MAGA-aligned transformation of its news programming under Bari Weiss, and which cut the Trump-critical The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The Paramount chief's op-ed followed a lawsuit by a dozen states seeking to block the acquisition. A judge has halted the deal pending a trial scheduled for March, but if approved, Ellison would gain control of CNN, adding it to a media portfolio that already includes the CBS broadcast network and the Paramount film studio.

"We all have eyes and ears and see what's happening at CBS," one CNN employee told Darcy. "You can't just write an op-ed and erase that."

Another staffer pointed to Weiss's leadership, which has coincided with the dismantling of 60 Minutes and declining ratings for CBS Mornings and CBS Evening News. "The thing David Ellison seems to be missing is the wild mismanagement and disrespect that Bari has displayed at 60 and CBS," the staffer said. "We see it, and we do not want it here."

A third CNN employee told Darcy that the changes Ellison directed at CBS News had "eroded the newsroom's trust," adding: "Free pressifying CNN is not the answer." The staff resistance reflects broader unease at CNN, which has undergone its own leadership changes, strategic pivots, and rounds of layoffs since being folded into Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022.

In his op-ed, Ellison wrote that he does not wish to bend newsrooms to his views and wants them to reflect "the whole world, not one side of it." Darcy interpreted that remark as a signal about which perspective Ellison believes lacks representation. "I don't think he believes that liberals are underrepresented," Darcy said. "I think he believes that conservatives are underrepresented in media."

Darcy also noted that Paramount did not respond to his request for comment. The outcome of the March trial will determine whether one of the largest proposed media consolidations in recent years can proceed.