By Jacob Bryant

Copyright thewrap

Dan Rather had a stark warning for America that Paramount becoming the owner of CNN would be bad for his former employer CBS News — and part of a worsening trend for America overall.

In a conversation on “Radio Andy” with host Andy Cohen, Rather broke down the reports that Paramount, under new owner-CEO David Ellison, is looking to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which would add CNN to a portfolio that already includes CBS News.

This, Rather said, could not only deal a “very serious wound” to CBS, as part of the larger problem of billionaire media consolidation, it’s “not healthy” for America either.

“I think if they were to buy CNN, it would change CNN forever and it might be another very serious wound to CBS News,” he said. “I do think, Andy, without preaching about it, but that we, all of us, all the Americans, have to be concerned about the consolidation of huge billionaires getting control of nearly all of the major news outlets. This is not healthy for the country, and it is something to worry about. You know, you and I know each other well enough to know that we are optimists by experience and by nature. You and I are both optimists, but it’s pretty hard to be optimistic about the possibilities of the Ellison’s buying CNN.”

Last week The Wall Street Journal first reported that shortly after acquiring Paramount Global, the Ellison Family were preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. As part of that potential purchase, they would gain ownership of CNN.

Rather also explained how the shifts already happening within CBS News to lead to a more right-leaning coverage is affecting programming at the network. Ellison’s vision for a more conservative lens news focus was bolstered with reports that Bari Weiss was tapped to run CBS News.

The hire comes after CBS News had a $16 million settlement with Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. As part of the Skydance merger, Paramount agreed to place an internal ombudsman to ensure that the news organization was even-handed as part of its negotiations with the Trump administration.

“What’s going on now, I think most people may be vaguely aware, but CBS and now CBS News has had another change, yet another change in ownership and the Ellisons who are among the world’s richest people have bought it, in effect,” Rather said. “They are great supporters of President Trump, and there’ve been several instances in which the previous owners who were also supporters of President Trump had tried to sort of dictate what kind of news comes on. Even on ’60 Minutes.’ You know, within CBS News, ’60 Minutes’ is considered, you know untouchable.”

He continued: “My own feeling is that it is a particularly tough time for anybody working at CBS News and I still know many people there and I’m not ashamed to say that my heart is still there and probably always will be in a way, but this is an extremely tough time for them, and it’ll be interesting to see how much, if any, pressure the new owners put on them to change the coverage to be more pro-Trump than to being independent news.”