Paramount Global is already facing sharp criticism over its decision to settle Donald Trump‘s lawsuit over the way that CBS’ 60 Minutes edited an interview with Kamala Harris.
The $16 million settlement, announced late on Tuesday, came after months of wrangling and protest within CBS News. The lawsuit was seen by many legal observers as meritless, but Paramount Global needs Trump administration approval for its merger with Skydance Media.
The Writers Guild of America East, which represents writers at 60 Minutes and elsewhere in the news division, said that they stand “behind the exemplary work of our members at 60 Minutes and CBS News. We wish their bosses at Paramount Global had the courage to do the same. This settlement is a transparent attempt to curry favors with an administration in the hopes it will allow Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger to be cleared for approval. Paramount’s decision to capitulate to Trump threatens journalists’ ability to do their job reporting on powerful public figures.”
Ruth Ben-Ghiant, the author who writes about authoritarianism and propaganda, wrote on X, “Had they consulted with someone, anyone, who knows about authoritarian shakedown tactics and Mafia states, they would have learned that by paying out they have confirmed their weakness in the eyes of the predator.”
One organization, the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said in May that it planned to file a shareholder derivative lawsuit against the company if there was a settlement. A spokesperson for the organization did not immediately return a request for comment.
More to come.
