Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) weighed in on Paramount‘s apparent victory in the battle for Warner Bros., adding to a chorus of Democrats who are vowing investigations and other actions if they return to power after this year’s midterms.
Murphy posted on X, “Paramount should enjoy its growing news monopoly while they have it because when Democrats win back power we are going to break up these anti-democratic information conglomerates. All of them.”
Paramount’s bid is for all of Warner Bros. Discovery, meaning if the transaction is completed, the David Ellison-led company will own CBS News and CNN, two major legacy news outlets. Democrats already have been critical of Ellison for not answering questions of whether any commitments were made to Donald Trump to make changes to CNN, long one of the president’s targets.
While many Republicans centered their criticism on Netflix taking ownership of Warner Bros., something that is off the table now that the streamer has declined to make a rival bid, Democrats like Murphy have raised concerns about either transaction.
After Netflix reached its deal to buy Warner Bros. in December, Murphy called the transaction “patently illegal.”
Murphy wrote, “But there are some quietly rooting for it because a Paramount takeover (that includes CNN) would be worse.”
He wrote, “Tyrants want us to accept blurry moral lines. They want us to accept one level of corruption or illegality just because there is an alternative level that’s much, much worse. But that’s how democracy disappears. By rules disappearing and constant relativity creeping in.”
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