Washington, D.C. — Today, state attorneys general from 12 states announced plans to settle their lawsuit challenging Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, which is the parent company of CNN. In response, Michael Sozan, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, issued the following statement:
Even with attempted safeguards built in, this deal poses a major threat to independent journalism and democracy, and still risks higher consumer costs and worker layoffs. It also allows CNN to be placed under the corporate control of Paramount, whose directors get to select the members of the new “independence” monitoring board. But the fight is not over. These settlement terms, if approved by a court, will be closely scrutinized to help ensure they are carried out. We must fight to ensure there is a free media independent of government control and intimidation.
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