Oh no, South Park's got a new owner – let's hope he's in on the joke

The $8bn takeover of Paramount has far-reaching implications for the old Hollywood studios and journalism

- Giles Whittell

Anyone bothered by Trumpian bullying can now watch Donald Trump being bullied back.

In the latest episode of South Park, released last week, the leader of the free world hangs out with his friend Satan, while a sociopathic homeland security secretary shoots pets to psych-up federal agents enforcing his deportation orders.

In episode one of the new series, released last month, a naked Trump is left talking to his very small penis. Both episodes have been ratings hits.

Try as he might, this president has not acquired immunity from satire. In the land of the free, freedom of speech lives. But it is looking a little careworn, and not just because the job of standing up to Trump has fallen to a cartoon show on Comedy Central.

On Thursday, the completion of the $8bn buyout of Paramount by Hollywood minnow Skydance Media marked a seismic shift in the US media landscape. Power is draining from old studios and legacy news networks to streamers and Substackers, and money for journalism is controlled by a new class of billionaires who have made it very clear that profit matters most.

South Park, recently acquired by Paramount, is caught in the middle. So is CBS News, the network of Walter Cronkite and a prized Paramount possession. Both are now owned by David Ellison, heir to a $300bn software fortune and a producer of Top Gun: Maverick.

In a letter to staff that included mentions of South Park and CBS's revered