CNN’s chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid has decided to leave the network rather than remain through David Ellison’s looming takeover of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, according to a report.
Reid, one of CNN’s most prominent legal journalists, informed management last week that she would not renew her contract when it expires later this summer despite receiving what Status described as a generous renewal offer.
According to the newsletter, Reid privately raised concerns with CNN executives about Paramount Skydance’s pending $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and the uncertainty surrounding the future of the network under Ellison’s ownership.
The 43-year-old correspondent reportedly concluded that the uncertainty surrounding the merger was too great and decided against remaining at CNN.
Prior to joining the cable news network in 2021, Reid spent roughly a decade at CBS News, where she covered the Justice Department and later served as a White House correspondent.
She has privately expressed concern over the sweeping changes implemented at CBS News since Ellison took control of Paramount Skydance, according to Status.
According to Status, CNN executives made a concerted effort to retain Reid but were unable to provide assurances about how the network would operate after the merger because they themselves have not been told what the post-merger leadership structure will look like.
Reid would be the first major full-time CNN journalist to decide to leave over concerns about the network’s future under Ellison’s ownership.
Status noted that technology journalist Kara Swisher has already said she will stop working with CNN once the merger closes, while other journalists are privately weighing whether to remain at the network.
Questions continue to swirl about who will ultimately run CNN after the merger closes.
Status has previously reported that the long-standing plan was for CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss to oversee editorial operations across both CBS News and CNN, though it said it is unclear whether that remains the strategy following recent upheaval at CBS News.
Last week, the New York Times reported that Ellison and his deputies are weighing whether to put Weiss in charge of CNN while pairing her with a veteran television executive responsible for the operational and financial side of the combined news organizations.
The Times also reported that CNN star Anderson Cooper has privately told colleagues he does not want to work for Weiss if she is put in charge of the cable network.
CNN chief executive Mark Thompson has reportedly told Paramount officials he will not share oversight of CNN with another executive, while longtime anchor Jake Tapper recently met privately with Ellison in Los Angeles.
Recent months have seen upheaval at CBS News since Weiss took over as editor-in-chief.
The network has dismissed “60 Minutes” executive producer Tanya Simon, correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, senior executive producer Draggan Mihailovich, veteran producer Guy Campanile and digital operations chief Matthew Polevoy.
Veteran correspondent Scott Pelley was fired after publicly confronting Weiss and newly installed executive producer Nick Bilton over the shakeup.
CNN and Paramount declined to comment when reached by The Post.
The Post has sought comment from Reid.
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