{"id":492,"date":"2026-06-15T22:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=492"},"modified":"2026-06-15T22:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T22:36:20","slug":"doj-approves-another-merger-amid-fears-trump-allies-will-tighten-grip-on-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=492","title":{"rendered":"DOJ Approves Another Merger Amid Fears Trump Allies Will Tighten Grip on Media"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Trump administration has approved media conglomerate Paramount\u2019s $111 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros., one year after Paramount and Skydance Media signed a similar merger that placed Paramount\u2019s movie studio, streaming service and broadcast network CBS<\/em> under the control of the multibillionaire Ellison family, founders of Skydance and close allies of Donald Trump. The Warner Bros. merger, if completed, would bring an even larger slice of the industry\u2019s market share into Ellison control. It\u2019s been contested for months as a likely violation of antitrust laws amid a wider trend of corporate consolidation in the media and entertainment industry. \u201cThis has been one of the most shallow and corrupt merger review processes we\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d says Craig Aaron, co-CEO of the advocacy organizations Free Press and Free Press Action (not to be confused with Paramount Skydance\u2019s conservative news outlet The Free Press<\/em>), about the Justice Department\u2019s greenlighting of the merger.<\/p>\n

The deal will place two of the largest U.S. broadcast news networks \u2014 CBS News<\/em> and CNN<\/em> \u2014 under the control of a single company that \u201chas shown it is willing to warp and manipulate news coverage to please the president,\u201d Aaron says. He warns that the many violations of press freedom committed by CBS News<\/em> since its acquisition last year could soon be seen at CNN<\/em>, including \u201cgetting rid of independent journalists asking hard questions [and] spiking stories about crimes being committed by the Trump administration.\u201d In a consolidated media landscape, he adds, \u201cwe get fewer and fewer choices, and we get more and more of the same kind of cookie-cutter content produced.\u201d<\/p>\n

TRANSCRIPT<\/h2>\n

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.<\/em><\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN:<\/strong> This is Democracy Now!<\/em>, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report<\/em>. I\u2019m Amy Goodman, today broadcasting from Northern Visions TV in Belfast, Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has approved Paramount\u2019s $111 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. On Friday, the Justice Department\u2019s Antitrust Division said that it saw no evidence that the media megamerger would harm consumers, writing instead the deal would, quote, \u201cincrease competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem,\u201d unquote. If completed, the merger would consolidate two major movie studios, two top streaming services, and news outlets CNN<\/em> and CBS News<\/em>, as well as HBO \u2014 all under the control of the Ellison family. Paramount\u2019s biggest shareholder is the billionaire Larry Ellison, a close ally of Trump. Paramount\u2019s CEO is Ellison\u2019s son, David Ellison. Last year, his company, Skydance, took control of Paramount, including CBS<\/em>. Shortly after the Paramount-Skydance merger was approved, Ellison installed the right-wing journalist Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News<\/em>. And we all know what happened next: the gutting of CBS<\/em>\u2019s premier news investigative hour, 60 Minutes<\/em>, where the latest casualty was Scott Pelley, who was just recently fired.<\/p>\n

To talk all about all of this and more, we\u2019re joined by Craig Aaron, co-CEO of Free Press and Free Press Action.<\/p>\n

Craig, talk about the significance of Trump\u2019s Department of Justice approving the merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n

CRAIG AARON:<\/strong> Thanks for having me, Amy.<\/p>\n

What we saw happen on Friday was the Justice Department say they could find no reason to block this merger. And that\u2019s because they didn\u2019t look for one. This has been one of the most shallow and corrupt merger review processes we\u2019ve ever seen, and it has been marked by Paramount, the leadership of Paramount, David Ellison, his father Larry Ellison, wooing and capitulating to the Trump administration at every turn, having them for fancy dinners, promising to make sweeping changes to newsrooms like CNN<\/em> if they can get this deal to go through.<\/p>\n

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And the great risk here is so much media control under one umbrella, the idea that two of our major mainstream news outlets could be controlled by one company, which, as you said, has shown it is willing to warp and manipulate news coverage to please the president, the idea that HBO and major movie studios, again, falling under one corporate umbrella, raising serious questions about what projects are going to be made, what documentary films will be made, what information and news will we see if the Ellisons control this much of our news media.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN:<\/strong> So, talk about this in the context of all these corporate mergers, what it means when CNN, CBS<\/em>, HBO are all under the same roof.<\/p>\n

CRAIG AARON:<\/strong> Well, I think we\u2019ve seen it happening at CBS<\/em>. So, the Ellisons aren\u2019t hiding the ball. They\u2019re not really making any \u2014 the promises they\u2019re making are to turn CNN<\/em> into something like what they\u2019ve done with CBS<\/em>, where they\u2019re getting rid of independent journalists asking hard questions. They\u2019re spiking stories about crimes being committed by the Trump administration. And what they\u2019re promising is more of the same. And every big media company that\u2019s gone before this administration to get a deal done, to push through megamerger after megamerger, has promised \u2014 and because they know this is what appeals to Trump, they\u2019ve promised them to change their coverage, get rid of activist journalism, get rid of the kind of independent accountability that we need. And they\u2019re going for even the most mainstream types of outlets, like 60 Minutes<\/em>, you know, a program that is well regarded but certainly not the source of any kind of radical coverage, but serious coverage when it comes to what\u2019s happening in this country and around the world. And under the Ellisons, there\u2019s no place for it. So, we\u2019ve already seen what they\u2019ll do. And what we don\u2019t know what will happen is what programs no longer get made. We get fewer and fewer choices, and we get more and more of the same kind of cookie-cutter content produced.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN:<\/strong> Craig, we just have 20 seconds. What are you calling on states\u2019 attorneys general to do, from New York to California?<\/p>\n

CRAIG AARON:<\/strong> The important thing here, Amy, is this is not over. Just because the Trump administration abdicated their responsibility, the states have a responsibility to step in. Attorneys general can go to court, challenge this deal. The evidence is overwhelming that this is too much concentration and consolidation. State attorneys general in California, in New York, in other states need to take action to block this deal, because the Trump administration certainly isn\u2019t going to do it.<\/p>\n

AMY GOODMAN:<\/strong> I want to thank you so much for being with us, Craig Aaron, co-CEO of Free Press and Free Press Action.<\/p>\n

Thanks to everyone here at Northern Visions TV in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The film Steal This Story, Please!<\/em> will premiere at Docs Ireland tomorrow in Belfast at the Queen\u2019s Theatre. Check our website, democracynow.org. I\u2019m Amy Goodman in Belfast.<\/p>\n

Read more Is Affordability a Climate Issue? Philadelphia Hunger Strikers Said Yes.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free press advocate Craig Aaron explains the stakes of billionaire-owned Paramount potentially acquiring Warner Bros.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nDOJ Approves Another Merger Amid Fears Trump Allies Will Tighten Grip on Media - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=492\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DOJ Approves Another Merger Amid Fears Trump Allies Will Tighten Grip on Media - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Free press advocate Craig Aaron explains the stakes of billionaire-owned Paramount potentially acquiring Warner Bros.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=492\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-15T22:36:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=492#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=492\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"DOJ Approves Another Merger Amid Fears Trump Allies Will Tighten Grip on Media\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-15T22:36:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=492\"},\"wordCount\":1230,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=492#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/60084fe83b862974461bae17412057e1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=492#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=492\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=492\",\"name\":\"DOJ Approves Another Merger Amid Fears Trump Allies Will Tighten Grip on Media - 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