Paramount Skydance is working on completing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. That purchase includes CNN. And when it does, Kara Swisher says her time with the network will be over.
Currently, Swisher is preparing to debut a weekend show — Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever — with the network that investigates the rise in anti-aging products and services. It’s release is set for Saturday, April 11th. She also serves as a contributor, appearing several times on the network’s political and election night coverage.
While speaking at the Toner Journalism Awards in Washington, D.C. on Monday evening, Kara Swisher was asked about her thoughts on the purchase of CNN by Paramount Skydance. She said that she’s “spent a lot of time with Larry Ellison” and that “he’s a terrible person.” Swisher said that no matter the outreach from the incoming company, she won’t be staying when Paramount takes over.
“They’ve been calling me,” Swisher began. “They’ve been very nice. They say ‘Kara, good show with Matt Bellamy.’ They’re doing a lot of friendly, friendly with me right now. Too bad, it’s not gonna work. It’s not gonna happen for you, as I say.
“I don’t think they’ll be good owners, I don’t,” continued Swisher. “I think they’ve already shown several times, including editorial choices, which Scott (MacFarlane) knows more about than I. They have no interest in journalism. And I refuse to work for an organization that doesn’t respect journalists.”
Swisher added that her point of contention doesn’t come from the layoffs enacted by the organization. She shared that she completely understands that the “costs were too high” and that they needed to slash spending.
But she disagrees with the way the Ellisons plan to operate the brand. Additionally, she said that due to the success of her independent media endeavor, she’s now in a place where she isn’t forced to work for anyone she doesn’t want to work for.
“I make a lot of money, so I don’t have to,” Swisher said. “And so for me to stand up and say, ‘I’m not working for you hacks. I’m just not doing it, it’s not worth it to me,’ it doesn’t hurt me. I can wander over to MS (NOW) if I feel like having a television show. I can wander anywhere else. It doesn’t matter to me because Pivot has a bigger demo in the 25 to 54 range than all the cable networks in primetime. Their median age is 69. Ours is 42. Which, if theirs is 69, it means there’s a lot of 92-year-olds hanging out over there.
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good, I am glad to see that this pompous jerk is going to leave the air now we only need about 500 more to do the same