CNN Legal Correspondent Paula Reid Declines Contract Renewal Amid Paramount Skydance Merger

CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid told network management last week that she will not renew her contract when it expires later this summer. Reid, 43, cited uncertainty surrounding Paramount Skydance’s pending $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery as the reason for her departure.

Status reported that CNN offered Reid a generous renewal package but could not provide assurances about the network’s post-merger structure because executives themselves have not been told what the leadership will look like. Reid had also raised concerns about changes already implemented at CBS News after David Ellison took control of Paramount Skydance.

Reid joined CNN in 2021 after roughly a decade at CBS News, where she covered the Justice Department and later served as a White House correspondent.

Status described her as the first major full-time CNN journalist to leave over questions about the network’s future under Ellison’s ownership. Technology journalist Kara Swisher has separately said she will stop working with CNN once the merger closes. Other journalists at the network are privately considering whether to remain, according to Status.

The long-standing plan had been for CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss to oversee editorial operations across both CBS News and CNN. It remains unclear whether that arrangement will proceed following recent upheaval at CBS News. The New York Times reported last week that Ellison and his deputies are weighing whether to place Weiss in charge of CNN while pairing her with a veteran television executive for operational and financial responsibilities.

CNN chief executive Mark Thompson has told Paramount officials he will not share oversight of CNN with another executive. Longtime CNN anchor Jake Tapper met privately with Ellison in Los Angeles in recent weeks. CBS News 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 since Weiss became editor-in-chief.