Paramount CEO David Ellison went public with his view that the Paramount-Warner Bros deal hinges mainly on CNN – which is exactly what I wrote last week in a New York Times op-ed. A CBS News insider countered that the new hires at “60 Minutes” are “a signal to the newsroom that ’60 Minutes’ is going to do hard, probing, revelatory work and do investigative journalism.” But according to two of my sources, there is no decision internally at Paramount and CBS as to whether to combine CNN with CBS News. Mark Thomson is running CNN, and is unlikely to agree to report to Weiss, who has far less experience than he does. So here are a few conclusions:David Ellison is open to negotiations around CNN, but doesn’t want to sell it.