A former “CBS Evening News” anchor told CNN on Friday that the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media may “end” journalism as she had known it.
CBS could also potentially lose its independence, the anchor said.
Former anchor Connie Chung told “CNN News Central” that “I fear the end of CBS as I knew it. CBS was always a standalone network. It was autonomous. The news division was autonomous, and it was always unencumbered by pressures from politicians, including presidents, and unencumbered by bean counters. But now? I can see very clearly that the days that I remembered are long gone.”
“Honest, unbiased, fact-based journalism is being tainted and those who practiced that journalism, like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, that kind of journalism has disappeared. I also fear that gone are the days of Frank Stanton, who was the president of CBS, who defended the rights of the journalism, the First Amendment, the fourth estate before Congress, and he represented all journalists in many ways,” Chung added.
The FCC announced its approval of an $8 billion merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media last week. The deal is supposed to close in early August.
CBS has been involved in numerous controversies recently, such as its cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and its settling of a lawsuit with President Trump regarding a segment on “60 Minutes.”
However, Chung does not believe these decisions, including its decision to not implement any more DEI policies, were just financially-based.
“I have difficulty believing what they claim, which is that the ‘60 Minutes’ agreement had nothing to do with the merger, or a settlement had nothing to do with the merger, and also that the disappearance of Steve [sic] Colbert had nothing to do — it had only to do with financial issues. It all smells,” Chung stated.