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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
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5 min read
After settling with Trump, CBS News staffers fear what comes next
By Brian Stelter, CNN
Updated:
1:40 PM EDT, Thu July 3, 2025
Source: CNN
Paramount Global is being hammered for and settling a lawsuit that it
likely could have beaten in court.
But this convoluted episode is really more about the plaintiff,
President Trump, than about Paramount.
“It is odd to call this a ‘settlement’ when the result of it is
so unsettling,” veteran journalism professor Al Tompkins remarked.
Employees at CBS News, which produces “60 Minutes,” feel the same
way. “There is great fear about what comes next,” a CBS News
staffer told CNN on condition of anonymity.
Even though Trump’s “60 Minutes” lawsuit is now history, his
bullying tactics will continue to challenge media companies for the
foreseeable future.
“Behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated,” the Foundation for
Individual Rights and Expression said Wednesday. “This settlement
will only embolden the president to continue his flurry of baseless
lawsuits against the press — and against the American people’s
ability to hear the news free from government intrusion.”
For newsrooms and other organizations targeted by Trump, the question
becomes, fight or fold? One follow-up question might be: How do
audiences react to outlets that fold?
When Trump first sued CBS last fall, Rebecca Tushnet, the Frank Stanton
professor of First Amendment law at Harvard Law School, told CNN the
suit was “ridiculous junk and should be mocked.”
Tushnet – whose professional home is by the Trump administration –
said in a follow-up exchange on Wednesday that Paramount’s decision
to settle was disappointing.
“The individual incentive in a budding authoritarian state is always
to capitulate; that’s the point of imposing costs on speech,” she
said. “It’s disappointing that so many of our institutions are
folding especially when individual citizens can see very clearly the
dangers of this path.”
Some CBS staffers have expressed similar views. Former CBS News
correspondent Armen Keteyian echoed current staffers when he wrote on
X, “This Paramount settlement is the nadir for the network — a
breach of the public trust Murrow, Cronkite, Hewitt and thousands of us
worked decades to build.”
Democratic lawmakers also heaped criticism on Paramount for settling;
Sen. Elizabeth Warren said “this looks like bribery in plain
sight,” and Sen. Ron Wyden condemned the “corporate execs who sold
out our democracy,” promising action “when Democrats retake
power.”
The bribery allegation stems from the fact that Paramount is trying to
get the Trump administration to approve its pending merger with
Skydance Media. Paramount insists that the settlement is not related to
the FCC merger review process.
Trump, however, recently spoke about the “60 Minutes” lawsuit and
the merger hold-up as if they were self-evidently connected.
When a reporter asked Trump what was holding up the merger on June 18,
Trump answered by praising Skydance CEO David Ellison, then immediately
repeated his talking points about the lawsuit. “They’re working on
a settlement now,” he said.
A ‘monument to Paramount’s surrender’
According to the terms of the settlement, which were announced late
Tuesday night, Trump will drop the suit in exchange for $16 million
toward his presidential library. The financial terms struck with Trump
last December.
“Trump’s presidential library will be a permanent monument to
Paramount’s surrender,” Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the
Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
Other press freedom advocates called the CBS parent’s decision a
“spineless” and “shameful” capitulation.
Veteran media reporter Paul Farhi said that it was “fascinating how
Paramount has borne the bulk of the criticism for agreeing to this
payoff. As if Trump is a passive bystander who played no role.”
The conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, controlled
by Rupert Murdoch, focused on Trump’s conduct in a sharply critical
piece on Wednesday night.
“The President is using government to intimidate news outlets that
publish stories he doesn’t like,” “It’s a low move in a free
country with a free press.”
Trump, who on Wednesday was focused on his sweeping agenda bill, has
yet to personally weigh in on the Paramount settlement. But a spokesman
for his legal team cast the deal as an example of him holding “the
Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit.”
Transparency is key
The supposed “wrongdoing” in this case, however, was just an edit
to a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris
last fall.
Trump seized on the clunky editing of one particular question and
answer, but TV networks edit interviews all the time, and those
editorial decisions are protected under the First Amendment.
One takeaway for journalists is to be “transparent about how you do
what you do,” Tompkins said.
CBS resisted calls to release the full transcript of the Harris
interview last fall, but eventually shared the transcript and tapes
amid mounting political pressure.
The tapes reaffirmed that Trump had a weak legal case. But the lawsuit
gave him leverage over Paramount — and potentially Skydance, the
CBS-owner-in-waiting, as well.
David Ellison, son of the billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison,
was seen schmoozing near Trump at two different UFC matches earlier
this year, stoking speculation that he was leaning on personal
relationships to help get the merger approved.
On Wednesday, Paramount pushed back on a New York Post report about a
“side deal” between Ellison and Trump involving TV airtime for
public service announcements promoting Trump-aligned causes.
“Paramount has no knowledge of any promises or commitments made to
President Trump other than those set forth in the settlement proposed
by the mediator and accepted by the parties,” the company said.
A spokesperson for Ellison had no comment on the matter, and there is
no evidence of any such deal.
But the report only intensified questions inside CBS News about how
Ellison might approach owning the news division in the future.
While journalists at “60 Minutes” and across CBS News are concerned
about the situation, they ultimately want to move on and continue doing
their jobs.
“This settlement is not a reflection on the essential and bold work
of 60 Minutes of CBS,” Tompkins told CNN. “It is a reflection of a
vindictive president and corporate heads who did not value one of the
fundamental principles that underpin the ownership of a news
organization.”
“That principle,” he said, “is stated as the second tenet of the
Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics: Act
Independently.”
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