Impact on Journalism and Competition
Bonta further warned that consolidating major news outlets like CBS News and CNN under a single corporate umbrella would directly harm the journalism industry.
"It also means less news," said Bonta.
He noted that workforce reductions inevitably lead to diminished perspectives and fewer investigative stories.
"Less journalists doing less investigative journalism, telling fewer stories, doing less truth telling and truth seeking. And so that has an impact on CNN and CBS, that argument.
And we make an argument that when you have workforce reductions, then you get less perspectives and less diversity of viewpoints and less volume of viewpoints," said Bonta.
Washington State Attorney General Nick Brown expressed surprise at the high volume of public concern regarding reduced streaming competition and potential price hikes.
He also raised concerns about media consolidation and its impact on the distribution of information.
"I think that we need more voices out there explaining to people what's happening in their country and in their governments," said Brown.
Brown stated that having fewer entities controlling major news sources raises significant red flags.
"And so when you see fewer people in control of more news sources, I think it really is something that raises red flags for me," said Brown.
He dismissed political dynamics, including corporate ties to the Trump administration, as irrelevant to the legal challenge.
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"We're not going to be impeded by the politics of it. We're not going to be impeded by the close relationship that Paramount leadership has with the president.
