Channel 5 boss says its news will stay independent
Channel 5's news will stay independent. That was the message from Reemah Sakaan, president of Paramount's British network 5, at the Royal Television Society London Convention on 29 September. She spoke amid concerns about David Ellison-shaped political interference in the US, according to Deadline.
BBC News journalist Katie Razzall put the question to her directly. She asked whether Paramount could guarantee the impartiality and independence of Channel 5 News given events across the Atlantic. Sakaan said it could.
She said 5's commitment to investment in news, to independent news and to 5 News producer ITN had been redoubled in the past few months, according to Deadline. ITN makes 5 News. Its bulletins are fronted by Dan Walker.
For viewers, this means the team putting the bulletin together sits outside Paramount itself. That separation is part of everyday production. It is also backed by law.
5 is Paramount's UK public service broadcaster and streamer, meaning a channel with public obligations such as news and UK-made programmes. Its news service carries a legal duty to impartiality under British broadcasting rules. That duty applies to what goes to air, whoever owns the channel.
Sakaan pointed to history as well. She said Paramount had been custodian of Channel 5 for over a decade. The convention programme billed her appearance as an account of how 5 has treated re-invention as vital for survival, with core public service values informing its identity.
There is also a written safeguard tied to Paramount's next deal. Paramount has agreed a deed of covenant, a binding set of promises, with the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport over its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Those commitments take effect once the transaction completes and remain in force for five years, according to Deadline.
Under them, the editorial direction of 5 News will remain entirely separate from CBS News and CNN International. That keeps the UK bulletin apart from two US-linked news operations. It is a clear line on paper.
The setting was the RTS London Convention 2026. Sakaan was announced among the first speakers for the event, whose Principal Sponsor was Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. The gathering brings executives, producers and journalists together to debate television.
What makes this stand out is what sits behind the pledge. A bulletin needs reporters, producers and crews. Sakaan's message was that the funding and the independence stay.
