When Walter Cronkite was anchor of the CBS Evening News, he was quoted as saying, “My job isn’t to tell you what you want to hear. My job is to tell you what you need to hear.” But now that the Ellisons have purchased the network and put Bari Weiss in charge of its news operation, the job of current and future anchors will be to tell you what David Ellison wants you to hear.

That is no exaggeration. Given recent changes such as the dismantling of 60 Minutes, it’s abundantly clear that the network’s reporting will no longer be independent and objective. Instead, every news story will be forced through a MAGA filter for the benefit of its new billionaire owners.

Just what we needed: Another MAGA propaganda network to deceive and divide us.

Unfortunately, this one could be even more dangerous than Fox, Newsmax, OANN, The Blaze, Real America’s Voice, RSBN and all of the many rightwing radio networks. That’s because it had long earned the reputation as the most reliable broadcast news organization. The network of legends such as Edward R. Murrow, Douglas Edwards, Eric Severaid, Walter Cronkite, Mike Wallace, Dan Rather, Connie Cheung, Scott Pelley and many, many others.

Unlike the network’s founders, the Ellisons obviously have no interest in facts and truth. They simply view their ownership as an opportunity to sway viewers to their rightwing ideology while, at the same time, adding to their billions in assets.

And, if their bid for Warner Bros. Discovery is approved, reporters at CNN will almost certainly suffer the same future.