Monday on CNN’s “New Day,” Randall Stephenson, the chairman and CEO of AT&T made an appearance with current Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes to promote the merger of AT&T and Time Warner.

Stephenson pledged an “independent” CNN, one of Time Warner’s properties, should the merger proceed.

“I watch how Jeff manages this business today and I think it’s a model of how we want to manage it in the future,” Stephenson said. “And look, I think of a brand like CNN and the key variable of your brand is your brand is your independence. And when people watch CNN, are they getting an independent assessment in reporting of the news. The last thing we want to do as AT&T is in anyway taint that in the slightest bit.”

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