CNN is on the brink of having a new owner, David Ellison, and a new independent editorial board. Paramount Skydance settled an antitrust lawsuit with 12 states on Monday, paving the way for Ellison's $111 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, giving him control of Warner's film and TV studios, and cable networks like HBO, Comedy Central and CNN.

That means CNN and CBS News, which Paramount already owns, will be under the same corporate boss by early October. The looming possibility of Mr. Ellison's ownership has caused anxiety in CNN's newsroom since the acquisition was announced at the beginning of the year. Mr. Ellison enjoys a friendly relationship with President Trump, who regularly assails CNN as biased and barred the network — along with MS NOW and Politico — from the White House grounds late last week, prompting a lawsuit and a First Amendment outcry.

As part of the agreement to settle the lawsuit, the states said on Monday that Paramount had agreed to install an independent editorial board for CNN and CBS News that would help guide "editorial and journalism principles for the combined entity's news channels." But how much power the board will wield remains unknown. In announcing the settlement, the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, said on Monday that the board would be created to "ensure independent, objective, fact-based reporting at CBS News and at CNN." In the agreement, the states said a committee of "five states will also oversee enforcement and monitor compliance."

According to the settlement, Paramount has six months to set up the board. It will be made up of five "established" journalists, either retired or working, with at least 10 years of experience. They will serve three-year terms. Some likened the concept to the "special committee" created when Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation acquired Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal in 2007. That committee was charged with ensuring editorial independence and approving the appointment of a new managing editor at The Journal. But within months of Mr. Murdoch's ownership, The Journal's managing editor abruptly resigned without the special committee's awareness, which the committee later said had "failed to meet the letter and the spirit of the agreement."