Will CBS be the next media giant to cave to Trump?
Do you want to be on good terms with President Donald Trump? Expect pay a lot.
According to The Wall Street JournalA mediator suggested a regulation of $ 20 million to resolve the Trump trial against Paramount Global. The agreement would include a donation of $ 17 million to future presidential libraryas well as millions for legal costs and antenna time on networks belonging to Paramount in order to make public service announcements condemning anti -Semitism.
But negotiations have not yet progressed, and they might not do so. The Trump team also requires apology, which Paramount is not currently willing to provide. The settlement talks remain uncertain and a resolution is always elusive.
However, this raises an urgent question: in a Era of Media Retreat And will Trump’s appeasement, will CBS News be the next one to give in?
At the heart of the legal dispute is an interview of October 2024 that CBS broadcast with vice-president Kamala Harris. Trump accused the network of modifying the segment to make Harris more beautiful, which CBS denies, declaring that he had simply broadcast an abbreviated version of his remarks. But that did not prevent the federal communications commission of Trump from reopening an investigation In the network – a clear intrusion into editorial judgment with serious implications for press freedom.
The president of the FCC, Brendan Carr, cited a complaint of distortion of new third parties as a basis to examine the edition of CBS. He demanded raw images and complete transcription, that CBS released Earlier this year. In the meantime, Trump has has deposited a separate $ 20 billion defamation trials against the network.
Paramount, the parent company of CBS, would have Offered trump 15 million dollars to be set, but it was at $ 25 million. The current exchange put the leaders of Paramount in a difficult situation, with internal divisions on how to settle without risking prosecution for shareholders or future legal questions.
To assess their legal risks, Paramount consulted Gibson Dunn, a high -level law firm, who concluded that a regulation of $ 20 million would probably avoid criminal or civil repercussions and are in the range of what other companies have paid to settle Trump’s prosecution.
And these payments have accumulated.
In December, Disney quietly installed A defamation case involving ABC News and the George Stephanopoulos anchor by paying $ 15 million at the Trump’s presidential foundation and $ 1 million in legal fees. And in January, meta paid 25 million dollars to set up a trial in 2021 after suspending Trump’s accounts after the January 6 insurrection. X set a similar complaint For $ 10 million.
Meanwhile, other points of sale have changed their position to appease Trump – just look The Washington Post Under Jeff Bezos.
Trump is already loyalty Fox News And One America NewsBut the situation of CBS is unique: its trial affects the network planned merger With Skydance Media, and the initiates say that the pressure to adjust has caused significant internal tensions.
In fact, Wendy McMahon left his role As CEO and president of CBS News last month, in part because she in disagreement with the way the company managed the trial. It was the Second exit from major leadership of the network this year.
FCC has authority on The paramount-skydance merger because it implies transfers of diffusion license, which means that Carr could delay or completely block the merger to give Trump more lever.
But for the moment, the signs suggest that CBS could remain firm. In a deposit Monday, responding to Trump’s last legal request, Paramount and CBS jointly led the case “a trial without merit”.
“President Trump and the representative [Ronny] Jackson tries to escape the principles of the first amendment for the foundation which establishes that civil servants like them cannot hold press organizations like CBS responsible for the exercise of editorial judgment ”, they wrote.
Hopefully they will remain firm – because few points of sale will do it.
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