New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani blasted the antitrust settlement clearing the way for the $111 billion Paramount Skydance, Warner Bros. Discovery merger, calling it a betrayal of press freedom, though several attorneys general from his own political side signed off on the deal.
Mamdani took to X on Tuesday afternoon to denounce the agreement, which twelve states and the Writers Guild of America reached with Paramount Skydance over the company's massive bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who led the states' case, announced the settlement terms a day earlier, on Monday. A court hearing to consider the deal is set for Thursday.
The settlement commits Paramount to release a set number of films per year, increase domestic production, honor union contracts, and invest $1.5 billion in new film production in the United States. It also requires the company to form a new editorial independence board charged with establishing journalism principles for CBS News and CNN, two outlets that would fall under the merged entity's umbrella.
None of that satisfied Mamdani. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the mayor framed the merger as a direct threat to a free press and an unchecked gift to the wealthy.
"America is free only when the media is competitive, independent, and accountable to the people. This merger strikes a chilling blow against that freedom, and hands even more power to billionaires like David Ellison to decide what Americans see and hear, all while lifting scrutiny off the federal leaders who pushed it through."
Mamdani did not specify which "federal leaders" he was accusing. He capped his statement with the sharpest line: "This decision is a shameful monument to corruption and a betrayal that the American people won't soon forget."
The settlement did not come easily. The twelve-state coalition that filed antitrust suits against Paramount Skydance splintered before the ink dried. New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Nevada were among the holdouts who resisted the terms. The remaining states, led by California, pushed the agreement forward.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong made his frustration public. He said his office had "wanted and demanded full divestiture of CNN and CBS News" in order to "save ethical and independent journalism and news."
"We fought aggressively for that remedy. I am deeply disappointed that we could not do more."
Tong's position was clear: an editorial independence board is not the same as breaking CNN and CBS News away from a media conglomerate entirely. He wanted structural separation. He got a governance committee.
Mamdani, for his part, did give credit to New York Attorney General Letitia James for protections she secured for workers in the deal. That nod is worth noting, given that Mamdani has built much of his early tenure around labor-friendly policy, including launching a taxpayer-funded office to push unionization across New York City.
James's own statement struck a markedly different tone from Mamdani's broadside. She did not condemn the settlement. Instead, she emphasized the economic commitments Paramount made.
"Paramount's commitments will allow the film and television industry to continue to thrive with more movies produced in America and $1.5 billion of new investment in film production. I have met with unions representing entertainment industry workers as our case progressed, and I will continue to closely monitor Paramount's activities to ensure they are following this agreement and the law."
James positioned herself as a watchdog, not an opponent. Whether New York ultimately signed onto the final settlement or remained a formal holdout is unclear from the public record so far. James's language suggests she accepted the terms, or at least chose not to fight them.
That gap between Mamdani's rhetoric and James's pragmatism is telling. Both are progressive Democrats operating in the same city. One called the deal corrupt. The other called it a win for workers and pledged to monitor compliance. They cannot both be right about what this settlement means.
Mamdani's "corruption" charge landed with force but without detail. He named David Ellison, the owner of Paramount Skydance, as a billionaire who would gain outsized control over what Americans see and hear. He accused unnamed federal leaders of escaping accountability. He offered no evidence for the corruption claim itself, no bribe, no quid pro quo, no specific official act he was alleging.
That approach fits a pattern. Mamdani has shown a willingness to deploy sweeping moral language against targets across the political spectrum. He drew bipartisan condemnation from Israeli leaders after labeling Prime Minister Netanyahu a war criminal, and he drew a public rebuke from President Trump after he and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were captured on video laughing during a 9/11 ceremony.
The mayor governs a city with enormous economic stakes in the entertainment industry. New York competes directly with Los Angeles for film and television production dollars. A $1.5 billion domestic production commitment and union protections are tangible gains for his constituents, gains his own attorney general secured. Mamdani chose to torch the deal anyway.
His broadside also raises a practical question: what outcome would he have preferred? Full divestiture of CBS News and CNN, as Tong wanted? A blocked merger entirely? Mamdani did not say. He described the problem in sweeping terms, media consolidation, billionaire power, federal complicity, without proposing an alternative or identifying a specific legal failing.
The $111 billion deal between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery would create one of the largest media companies on the planet, combining major film studios, broadcast networks, cable channels, and streaming platforms under a single corporate roof. The settlement removes the most significant legal obstacle standing in its way.
A Thursday court hearing will take up the settlement's terms. Whether the presiding judge accepts the agreement as written, demands modifications, or raises concerns about the editorial independence provisions for CBS News and CNN remains to be seen.
Mamdani's economic interventionism has already drawn federal pushback on other fronts. The Small Business Administration criticized his city-owned grocery store proposal as a threat to small businesses. His instinct to insert government authority into private markets is consistent, whether the market is groceries or media.
The settlement's editorial independence board for CBS News and CNN will test whether a corporate governance promise can substitute for the structural separation Tong and others demanded. Editorial boards appointed by the company that owns the newsrooms are, by definition, creatures of that company. Whether they provide genuine independence or serve as window dressing will depend entirely on enforcement, and on whether officials like James follow through on their pledge to monitor compliance.
Calling a lawful business settlement a "monument to corruption" without naming the corrupt act is the kind of rhetoric that generates headlines and dodges accountability. If Mamdani has evidence of corruption, the public deserves to see it. If he does not, then the word means nothing more than "a deal I dislike", and New Yorkers deserve a mayor who knows the difference.
