Donald Trump’s mission to get CNN sold

There’s no doubt about it at this point. President Donald Trump has great interest in what happens to CNN.

CNN is a part of Warner Bros. Discovery. And, at the moment, WBD is in a tug-of-war between being sold to Netflix or being taken over in a hostile bid by Paramount.

That sets up this interesting equation.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is involved in the financing to back the Paramount bid. Trump has a close relation with Paramount CEO David Ellison, who has reportedly told Trump he wants to make sweeping changes to CNN. And Trump really doesn’t like CNN.

Add up those two things and it equals Trump preferring WBD ends up under the control of Paramount and Ellison. In fact, the Netflix deal doesn’t even include the WBD’s cable networks such as CNN. The Paramount deal does, and Trump said this week that any deal involving WBD should include CNN.

Trump told reporters, “I think the people that have run CNN for the last long period of time are a disgrace. I think it’s imperative that CNN be sold.” He added that the current owners “are either corrupt or incompetent.”

It’s one thing for the president of the United States to dislike a network. It’s quite another to get personally involved in the sale of that network — all because he doesn’t like their coverage.

The Wall Street Journal’s Brian Schwartz and Alex Leary reported earlier this week, “For Trump, the deal represents a second chance to take aim at CNN. During his first term, the Justice Department unsuccessfully tried to block a sale of CNN’s parent company, then known as Time Warner, to AT&T. Department officials had sought changes to that deal, including either a spinoff of the television unit that included CNN or a sale of other assets. The president’s intervention in corporate dealmaking raises fresh questions about how a transaction might proceed.”

Any deal is likely going to need regulatory approval with Trump surely placing his thumbs on the scale.

The New York Post’s Charles Gasparino wrote, “All of which underscores the difficulty in running a news operation — or any highly regulated business — in the era of Trump, who has inserted himself into major corporate finance deals in ways that are unprecedented. Trump’s comments about CNN, media industry insiders say, shows he’s looking to exert maximum pressure to mold the deal to fit his political goals. As the Post has previously reported, Trump wants CNN’s alleged anti-MAGA bias ‘neutralized’ and that was one reason he was siding with the Ellisons in the deal contest.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had a testy exchange with CNN reporter Kaitlin Collins during a press briefing. Later, Leavitt answered a question from a Wall Street Journal reporter and took the time to go after CNN and signal the White House’s intentions.

Leavitt said, “Well, I think the president’s comments yesterday about the sale of CNN and new leadership is evidenced by my exchange with the CNN reporter in this room. Their viewership has gone down, the ratings have declined, and I think the president rightfully believes that network would benefit from new ownership, with respect to this deal. He has great respect for both companies who are bidding against one another, and I won’t weigh in any further than that.”

We don’t know how long it will take before we learn the fate of Warner Bros. Discovery. We don’t know who will end up with WBD. But what we do know is that Trump is going to be involved.

As Schwartz and Leary wrote for The Wall Street Journal, “In private conversations, the president has said that CNN should be run by people he believes are friendlier toward him and the Republican Party, according to a person who has spoken to Trump in recent weeks.”

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Pulitzer Prize Board pushes back on Trump

In 2022, Donald Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board. The New York Times and Washington Post had won Pulitzers for their coverage of connections between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. Trump called it a “now-debunked theory” and claimed the board harmed him when it issued a statement standing by its awards to the Times and Post.

But the Pulitzer Prize Board is fighting back. On Thursday in Florida, the board filed a discovery request, demanding that Trump provide documents and information that backs up his claims that he suffered damages or reputational harm.

A board spokesperson said in a statement, “Just like any other plaintiff, the President must articulate and prove his claims with evidence. The Pulitzer Board will not be cowed by the President’s attempt to intimidate journalists or undermine the First Amendment.”

Bloomberg Law’s Alex Ebert wrote, “Trump has avoided the discovery phase in his other recent media lawsuits. Threats and initial pleadings alone were enough to land Trump a $16 million deal with CBS in July, and a $15 million agreement with ABC last December.”

A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told Fox News’ Brian Flood, “President Trump is committed to holding those who traffic in fake news, lies, and smears to account, and he will see this powerhouse lawsuit through to a winning conclusion. This case has always been about correcting the record, revealing the truth, and vindicating the president and his supporters against the lies told to the American people by the Democrats and their PR machine known as 'legacy media.’”

Not only does the board want proof he was damaged in this case, but Ebert wrote, “The board wants any documents Trump possessed backing up damages claims in other defamation cases he filed over a 2005 biographical book ‘TrumpNation,’ against CBS for a ‘60 Minutes’ episode he claims cost him ‘at least $10,000,000,000,’ against Dow Jones for reporting on Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and in other cases where he’s faced off against CNN and ABC. The board is also seeking private information going back to 2015, including internal polling Trump would have conducted on himself to gauge his reputation, all of his tax returns, documents regarding all of his assets, and any gifts and compensation he’s received since then.”

Time’s person of the year

Time Magazine came out with their 2025 Person of the Year, and it’s an interesting choice, to say the least. They picked “The Architects of AI.”

In explaining the choice, Charlie Campbell, Andrew R. Chow and Billy Perrigo wrote, “This is the story of how AI changed our world in 2025, in new and exciting and sometimes frightening ways. It is the story of how (Nvidia CEO Jensen) Huang and other tech titans grabbed the wheel of history, developing technology and making decisions that are reshaping the information landscape, the climate, and our livelihoods. Racing both beside and against each other, they placed multibillion-dollar bets on one of the biggest physical infrastructure projects of all time. They reoriented government policy, altered geopolitical rivalries, and brought robots into homes. AI emerged as arguably the most consequential tool in great-power competition since the advent of nuclear weapons.”

It was an interesting pick — somewhat creative without trying too hard to be different for different’s sake.

They could’ve gone with President Donald Trump, but Trump was the person of the year last year. Plus, Time could probably pick the president of the United States most years. And the publication doesn’t want to become boring and predictable.

Meanwhile, D.W. Pine, the creative director at Time, explained how the covers for Person of the Year were made.

About that, Mediaite’s Zachary Leeman has “Time Magazine Skewered Over ‘Person of the Year’ Reveal.”

And, oh, here’s CNN’s Jordan Valinsky on Thursday with “Time picked a rough day to announce its ‘Person of the Year.’” Valinsky wrote, “Oracle shares are plummeting 14% in midday trading after the cloud computing giant reported massive AI-related expenses and a worse-than-expected outlook. That dragged the broader market lower, and just about every AI stock was set to sink Thursday. Oracle’s stock has fallen by more than a third over the past several months after growing at a historic tear earlier in this year for its artificial intelligence prowess. Worried investors fear that the AI spending boom may be due for a reality check.”

Media news, tidbits and interesting links for your weekend review

• The Associated Press’ Hannah Schoenbaum with “Judge to decide degree of media access in Charlie Kirk killing case.” In the case involving the name accused of shooting Kirk, Schoebaum writes, “A Utah judge is weighing the public’s right to know details in Tyler Robinson’s case against his attorneys’ concerns that the swarm of media attention could interfere with his right to a fair trial. Robinson’s legal team and the Utah County Sheriff’s Office have asked Judge Tony Graf to ban cameras in the courtroom.”
• Mother Jones’ Dan Friedman with “I Asked the Pentagon About Pete Hegseth’s Mentor. Then the Threats Started.”
• The latest edition to our Poynter50 series, which looks back at 50 moments and people that shaped journalism over the past half-century, is about one of the most significant people in media history. From Poynter’s Amaris Castillo, it’s “Oprah changed what media could be — and how millions live their lives.”
• My Poynter colleague Roy Peter Clark with “Two presidents, two female reporters and two revealing nicknames.”
• As a part of the “Pastors and Prey” series from NBC News, it’s this powerful piece from Elizabeth Chuck and Mike Hixenbaugh: “Dozens of boys say they were abused in a Christian scouting program that vowed to raise godly men.”
• The New York Times’ Megan Twohey and Isabella Kwai write about Andrew Tate in “How a Manosphere Star Accused of Rape and Trafficking Was Freed.”
• The New York Times’ Jason Zinoman with “Best Comedy of 2025.”
• Joe Buck, who has called more World Series and Major League Baseball All-Star Games on network television than any play-by-play announcer in history, has been selected as the 2026 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Buck called 24 World Series and 21 All-Star Games for Fox Sports. He no longer calls baseball regularly, having moved over to ESPN in 2022 to call “Monday Night Football.” Buck joins his father — legendary announcer Jack Buck — as a Frick Award winner. Here’s more from the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• When I was a sportswriter covering hockey, I made this climb many times over the years. Glad that someone has written a story about this: It’s The Athletic’s Peter Baugh with “Madison Square Garden’s 5-story entrance ramp is the steep price of admission for visiting athletes.”
• And, finally, here’s Awful Announcing’s Matt Yoder with “Top 10 sports broadcasting bloopers of 2025.”

More resources for journalists

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected].

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