The Paramount-Warner Merger: We’ve Seen this Movie Before

by Zack Kaldveer  

More than 50 years ago, corporate lawyer Lewis Powell wrote a confidential memo to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce calling on American business to organize for political power and exert greater influence over the institutions that shape public life.

In 2011, our documentary Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? traced how the ideas laid out in the Powell Memo helped inspire a decades-long campaign that transformed American politics and our economy.

Today, another chapter of that story is unfolding before our eyes.

Paramount Skydance is seeking to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, a merger that would put two of the country’s major news organizations, CBS News and CNN, under common corporate ownership. The deal would also combine two of Hollywood’s five major film distributors and bring more than 50 cable channels under one company. It is also expected to cost thousands of workers good-paying jobs.

Twelve states sued to stop the merger, arguing that it would substantially reduce competition. A federal judge initially found that the states were likely to succeed in their case. But California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced a settlement with Paramount in September, and the other states ultimately joined it. The agreement includes commitments involving film production, workers, cable negotiations, and an editorial independence board for CBS News and CNN. The fundamental concentration at the heart of the merger, however, would remain. 

Fewer competing studios means fewer opportunities and less bargaining power for writers, filmmakers, and other workers, while consumers could face higher prices and fewer choices. The Writers Guild of America secured some protections in its own settlement but said it continues to believe the merger “will cause damage to writers and the industry at large.”

And then there is the news. CBS News and CNN would ultimately answer to the same corporate ownership. The settlement creates an “Editorial Independence Board,” but its members would be appointed by Paramount and report to Paramount’s board.

For anyone who knows the history behind Heist, the significance of that concentration is difficult to ignore. In 1971, Powell was already thinking deeply about the power of the media to shape American political and economic life. Television, he wrote, played a “predominant role in shaping the thinking, attitudes and emotions of our people.” He also made an observation that feels particularly striking today: “Most of the media, including the national TV systems, are owned and theoretically controlled by corporations.”

Powell wanted corporate America to make greater use of that power. “The national television networks should be monitored,” he wrote, calling for constant examination of television news, complaints to the networks and the Federal Communications Commission, demands for equal time, and a larger effort to get pro-business voices before the public.

Media was only one front. Powell also called for a coordinated, long-term campaign encompassing universities, textbooks, the courts, electoral politics, government, and public opinion. In the decades that followed, an increasingly powerful network of corporations, wealthy donors, think tanks, lobbyists, and political organizations helped reshape tax policy, weaken organized labor, deregulate industries, and move the courts and public policy in a more corporate-friendly direction.

Powell was clear about what he believed was required, noting “political power is necessary,” and that power “must be assiduously cultivated” and, when necessary, “used aggressively and with determination.”

That history was at the heart of Heist. When the film was made, they wanted people to understand that the extraordinary concentration of wealth and power in America did not simply happen. Decisions were made. Laws and tax policies were changed. Unions were attacked. Regulations were dismantled. Courts were transformed. Institutions were built and lavishly funded to move public policy and public opinion.

And the media itself was always a key part of that struggle for power. That is what makes the Paramount-Warner merger so troubling. This is about more than movie tickets or which streaming service carries your favorite show. A corporation with enormous economic power, and, controlled by a right wing zealot showing absolute fealty to Trump, is poised to become even larger while gaining control over more of the news, entertainment, and culture Americans see every day.

The political story surrounding the merger makes the pattern even harder to miss. Axios reported that Paramount’s threat to leave California and take thousands of jobs with it helped erode political support for the states’ antitrust lawsuit. Gov. Gavin Newsom played a key role in brokering settlement talks, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. Other state attorneys general reportedly concluded that continuing the fight without California’s resources would be too costly.

Think about what that means. Corporate size itself became political leverage in a case about whether that corporation should be allowed to become even bigger. 

This is exactly why understanding history matters.

Heist was never simply a story about what had already happened to America. It was a warning about where the concentration of economic and political power could take us, and a reminder that democracy depends on ordinary people having the power to shape their own future - and how to wield it.

Watch Heist with your friends and family. Talk about how we got here, because understanding how this system was constructed is part of understanding how it can be changed.

And stay engaged in our democracy. Learn about the organizations and public demonstrations responding to concentrated political and economic power. Make a plan to vote, including voting early where that option is available.

None of this happened overnight, and none of it was inevitable. The system was built. It can be unbuilt.