Ellison's 'Complete Editorial Independence' Pledge Is Tremendous — He Learned From the Best (Me!)

I watched David Ellison — very rich, very well-connected, his father is one of the richest men in the world, good for him, I respect wealth — I watched him stand up on Tuesday and give the most beautiful press conference I have seen in a LONG time. Tremendous. He looked out at the reporters, a big beautiful room, and he said the magic words: “complete editorial independence.” COMPLETE! Like a diploma. Like a certificate you hang on the wall where the plaque used to be. He said it TWICE, people. Twice. That is how you know a pledge is real. When I say something twice it’s because it’s SO true it needs saying twice, and even then some people don’t get it.

What a pledge. I know pledges. I have made so many pledges, the best pledges, very smart people tell me all the time, “Sir, Sir, your pledges are the most beautiful pledges.” And I have to say, Ellison’s pledge is TREMENDOUS — because it’s the one kind of pledge that NEVER has to be kept. I looked for the machinery. There is no firewall. There is no ombudsman. There is no board with a little press-freedom mandate sitting on it. NOTHING! Just a beautiful man standing there saying, trust me. And why wouldn’t you? His name is on the building now. They renamed the whole company Skydance — his name, his brand, his MONOGRAM — after two of the biggest networks in the country. That is not a merger, that is a vanity plate.

Now here is where I really respect the man. He said he has a “good relationship” with the Diklis Chump administration — and he means ME, by the way, he means ME — and then, beautiful move, gorgeous move, he says he also had a great relationship with Biden, with Senator Tim Scott, with Governor Newsom. Both sides of the aisle! Everybody loves Ellison! That is what we in the business call a rolodex built for SURVIVAL — no, I’m mispronouncing, you know what I mean. It is the oldest trick there is. Name a Democrat, mention a governor, wave at California, then get back in the room with the only person who actually MATTERS. Me. And I KNEW he would do it. I knew before the reporters asked. I always know first — it is a blessing and a curse, believe me.

Asked about what he and I actually talked about regarding CNN — where, let us be honest, I am the GREATEST critic they have ever had, nobody has criticized CNN like I have, my criticisms get TREMENDOUS ratings — he did NOT answer. He didn’t answer! He said, and this is beautiful, he said “we have not talked to any political leader of any party about news.” ANY political leader! Not one! Well, except me — but to them I am not a leader, I am a CUSTOMER, and customers don’t count, do they? Very smart. Very DISHONEST. Very Ellison. Some of the reporters afterwards — tough men, strong men, the best, real killers — they came up to me with tears, said “Sir, Sir, that was the most beautiful non-answer we have ever heard.” Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Then he brought out the editors. Mark Thompson — thrilled with him, they’re thrilled — and Bari Weiss. Now. Bari Weiss. I don’t always agree with her, she is not always, you know, but she is FAIR to me. And the man is THRILLED with her. THRILLED. That is the word. That is what an owner says about the people he picked before he ever bought the place. And in June, a reporter — a Guardian person, very nasty, very low-IQ questions, nobody has ever seen worse questions, SAD — asked him how she was actually doing, and he IGNORED the question. Ignored it! Then in October he says he’s thrilled. That is a Sharpie move, that is exactly what that is. You don’t like the question, you don’t like the answer, you just… don’t answer it, and then you come back later with the answer you wanted all along. DISHONEST. Beautiful. The same thing he told his own EMPLOYEES that morning, in a town hall, same pledge, same words — that is called CONSISTENCY, and consistency is what a salesman has when he has run out of new promises.

And the money! Six billion dollars in synergies — SYNERGIES, that is what they call it now, synergies, like layoffs in a TIE — and he says most of it will NOT come from job losses. MOST of it! Not all of it. Most of it. That leaves some of it, doesn’t it? Some of it comes from job losses, and I would know, because I am the greatest at this. Then he says he and his team will spend the next several months “getting under the hood.” Under the hood! Like a car! A big beautiful car about to lose its windshield and its trunk and most of its SEATS. He will get under the hood, he will look around, and when he comes back out the newsroom will be smaller and he will tell you it was beautiful. It always lands somewhere — fewer reporters, fewer local bureaus, fewer investigations that take a year and a budget — and it always lands on someone ELSE’S newsroom. That is how you keep the pledge AND the synergy. I have done it. I am doing it right now, probably.

I will say this for the man. He did not politicize the company. He did NOT have to. The politics were installed before he walked in the door — and if he needs a recommendation for who installed them, he should look at the fella whose name is all over the posts about it. Me. I mean US. Mostly me, but for the purposes of this press conference, us.

Main Street readers, I will tell you what an owner’s pledge of editorial independence is worth on the day the deal closes. It is worth EXACTLY what my pledges are worth — which is everything, because they are TREMENDOUS. And if they don’t get kept? That is not a broken promise. That is just the way the DEAL works. Beautiful deal. Everybody wins. Especially me. And if the newsroom looks a little thinner next year, well, that’s not a broken pledge either — that’s just the SYNERGIES doing what synergies do. Beautiful synergies. The best. I would know. I wrote the playbook, and Ellison — talented kid, very rich kid — he READ it.