CBS considers caving on Trump censorship lawsuit to save Paramount merger

Jan 18, 2025 08:31 AM - 4 weeks ago 35051

A rule professor cited by CBS News called Donald Trump’s $10 cardinal suit complete the editing of a 60 Minutes question and reply pinch Kamala Harris “...so sick grounded that it comes adjacent to being sanctionable arsenic frivolous.” But now, the The Wall Street Journal reports that executives astatine CBS’ genitor company, Paramount Global, person discussed settling the suit while “gaming retired options to trim clash pinch the incoming administration” up of a authorities reappraisal of its merger pinch Skydance.

The insubstantial reports that incoming FCC chairman and censor-in-chief Brendan Carr warned execs past twelvemonth that statesmanlike dissatisfaction pinch CBS News will make a reappraisal tougher. He’s besides publically displayed that view, saying during a Fox News interview successful November, “...CBS has a transaction earlier the FCC. I’m beautiful assured that news distortion title complete the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is thing that is apt to originate successful the discourse of the FCC’s reappraisal of that transaction.”

The lawsuit claims that successful airing 2 otherwise edited versions of Harris’ consequence to a mobility astir the warfare successful Gaza, “CBS utilized its nationalist level connected 60 Minutes to transverse the statement from the workout of judgement successful reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news.”

But alternatively of mounting a defense of free reside against a suit and Trump’s accusations that the web said were mendacious and wholly without merit, Paramount is considering pursuing the illustration of Disney and tech oligarchs who will statement up astatine the inauguration like Mark Zuckerberg.

The ABC News owner agreed to salary $15 million to Trump’s statesmanlike instauration and depository to settee a defamation suit successful December. Zuckerberg sharply redirected Meta’s policies to the correct while gathering pinch Trump, reportedly “in portion to mediate a suit Trump brought against Facebook and Zuckerberg successful 2021 complete the platform’s suspension of Trump’s relationship aft the Jan. 6 riot astatine the U.S. Capitol.”

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