Archivists Warn Paramount-WBD Merger Threatens CNN and CBS News Archives

The proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger has alarmed archival producers who fear the consolidation of the CNN and CBS News archives under a single private entity. Skydance Media, through its Paramount acquisition, already controls the CBS News archive; a successful merger would also give it control of the CNN archive. Rochelle Widdowson, archival producer for the documentary 'Ghost in the Machine,' called the situation 'heartbreaking' during a Q&A at the Bentonville Film Festival in Arkansas. The Archival Producers Alliance, founded in 2023 with over 650 members, has publicly opposed the merger. In June, founders Stephanie Jenkins, Rachel Antell, and Jennifer Petrucelli wrote in the Poynter Institute that the merger risks 'the silent consolidation of our nation’s memory.' They cited Disney's 2019 policy restricting ABC News archive access to Disney-owned outlets as a precedent. Separately, the Alliance has raised concerns about AI-generated content in documentaries, noting OpenAI's Sora clip 'Historical footage of California during the Gold Rush' as an example of convincing but fake historical footage. Widdowson noted that some archives are removing collections from the internet to avoid AI training, complicating access for researchers. 'Ghost in the Machine,' directed by Valerie Veatch and acquired by PBS's 'Independent Lens,' traces AI's roots to eugenics and draws on archives from CBS, Pond5, PBS, BBC, and others.