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Ohio journalism professor: Paramount settlement robs First Amendment to pay Trump • Ohio Capital Journal [1]

['Aimee Edmondson', 'Gary Houser', 'Victoria Lapoe', 'Dr. Leanne Chrisman-Khawam', 'Marilou Johanek', 'More From Author', 'July', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus']

Date: 2025-07-17

Paramount’s $16 million settlement with the President Trump to end his frivolous lawsuit is an abomination, un-American, and a grievous injury to the First Amendment.

As a media law scholar, I’ll explain the adverse trend of media companies bending to government pressure and suggest tips for what citizens can do.

In a working democracy, there should be a healthy tension between elected officials and the press. In the 1964 landmark libel case New York Times v. Sullivan, the unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled that not only is it a journalist’s First Amendment right to question our elected leaders, but it is also our duty.

Trump hates American libel law because he can’t control what journalists write, so he found a way around it. And Paramount chose money over democracy.

The Paramount case

The president held Paramount hostage, angry over a pre-election interview with his political rival Kamala Harris on the venerable CBS News program 60 Minutes.

Paramount, the parent company of CBS, needed federal okay for a multibillion-dollar sale and caved to Trump’s demands on July 1, even agreeing to pay legal fees and court costs.

Legal scholars – including me – agreed that Trump’s lawsuit probably would have been dismissed.

The ABC case

The eye-bulging $16 million Paramount settlement is part of pattern. In December, ABC News agreed to settle a Trump defamation case against the network and anchor George Stephanopoulos. ABC is owned by Disney, which has a wide range of interests affected by the federal government.

In the CBS case, Trump sued under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Consumer Protection Act. He claimed that CBS violated the law by airing two versions of then Vice President Harris’ interview prior to the Nov. 5 election, allegedly misleading the public in an effort to swing the election in her favor.

He accused CBS of false advertising, seeking up to $20 billion damages. Journalism is not advertising, so the case seemed weak.

What has changed

Litigation and threat of litigation are long-held Trump tactics, including a history of lawsuits against media. While Trump’s litigious behavior may be consistent, several other factors have changed.

Too often, media companies prefer to settle than fight. Trust in news media has eroded. And many Americans live in information echo chambers that support partisan division.

In his 1999 book, “Rich Media, Poor Democracy,” scholar Robert W. McChesney saw this coming. He sounded the alarm that a key indicator of a democracy’s wellbeing is the state of its journalism. Corporate media bigwigs like Paramount are directly responsible for the low and false information ecosystem that is saturating our culture and eroding our democracy.

What can news consumers do?

I suggest these action items:

Rely on a wide range of actual news sources.

Donate to your local nonprofit newsroom, such as the Ohio Capital Journal . Here’s a directory via the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN). The Media and Democracy Project lists community journalism outlets focusing on watchdog reporting.

Watch the prescient 1999 film The Insider . Al Pacino plays Lowell Bergman, a 60 Minutes producer fighting CBS executives who kill a story about Big Tobacco’s misdeeds in order to save a CBS merger with Westinghouse that would have given millions to those same corporate honchos.

Conclusion

Those in power and those who hold the powerful accountable have always sparred. Our republic, well into its third century, has been well-served by robust debate, freedom of expression, and protection against government retribution. Our legal system includes safeguards against malicious libel.

Our heralded tradition of free speech, enshrined in the First Amendment to our Constitution, has been wounded by corporate acquiescence to government pressure spawned by the quest to concentrate power and chill criticism.

Dr. Aimee Edmondson is author of “In Sullivan’s Shadow: The Use and Abuse of Libel Law During the Long Civil Rights Struggle.” She is Associate Dean of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University.

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