'Spineless capitulation.' Paramount faces backlash over its $16-million Trump settlement

Critics blasted Paramount Global’s determination to wage $16 cardinal to settee President Trump’s suit implicit “60 Minutes” edits, calling the determination a “spineless capitulation” that erodes U.S. property freedoms.

Paramount precocious Tuesday agreed to a landmark colony with Trump to extremity his $20-billion broadside against CBS News. The president volition not beryllium paid directly, oregon indirectly, arsenic portion of the deal, Paramount said. Instead, the wealth volition spell to screen Trump’s ineligible fees and assistance concern his aboriginal statesmanlike library.

Paramount’s leaders anticipation the colony volition assistance wide a way for Trump-appointed regulators to bless the company’s $8-billion merchantability to David Ellison’s Skydance Media. They wanted to tamp down tensions with the president.

But journalists and others connected Wednesday said the outgo volition embolden attacks by Trump and his allies connected quality outlets. Some called the colony a stain connected the arrogant bequest of CBS News, the onetime location of specified fearless journalists arsenic Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace.

“This is simply a shameful determination by Paramount,” Clayton Weimers, enforcement manager of Reporters Without Borders USA, said successful a statement. “Shari Redstone and Paramount’s committee should person stood by CBS journalists and the integrity of property freedom. Instead, they chose to reward Donald Trump for his petty ineligible assault.”

Trump’s ineligible squad rapidly celebrated the settlement, saying: “President Donald J. Trump delivers different triumph for the American radical arsenic he, erstwhile again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit.”

Bob Corn-Revere, main counsel for the non-profit 1st Amendment advocacy enactment Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, took an opposing view, saying wider repercussions would result.

“A acold upwind conscionable blew done each newsroom,” Corn-Revere said successful a statement. “Paramount whitethorn person closed this case, but it opened the doorway to the thought that the authorities should beryllium the media’s editor-in-chief.”

Federal Communications Commissioner Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democrat connected the panel, said the colony was “a hopeless determination [by Paramount] to appease the Administration and unafraid regulatory support of a large transaction presently pending earlier the FCC.”

“This infinitesimal marks a unsafe precedent for the 1st Amendment, and it should alarm anyone who values a escaped and autarkic press,” Gomez said.

For months, Paramount executives person been torn implicit however to grip Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit. The quality helped punctual the departure of 2 elder CBS News executives who tried to clasp their ground, peculiarly arsenic “60 Minutes” continued airing stories that took a hard look astatine Trump’s policies and actions.

Journalists were horrified by the board’s willingness to settee the lawsuit alternatively than support 1st Amendment freedoms.

CBS News staffers feared the institution would beryllium forced to apologize erstwhile they said they did thing wrong. (The settlement, negotiated done a mediator, did not necessitate an apology.)

The ineligible wrangling began successful October erstwhile CBS broadcast antithetic portions of an reply fixed by then-Vice President Kamala Harris to a question astir the Biden administration’s waning clout with Israel’s premier minister.

CBS’ “Face the Nation” programme ran a clip of Harris giving a muddled effect to the question. A time later, “60 Minutes” aired a antithetic information of her answer. This 1 was forceful and succinct.

CBS has acknowledged editing Harris’ answer.

Trump and chap conservatives seized connected the edits, claiming CBS had manipulated Harris’ reply to marque her look much authoritative to heighten her lasting with voters. He called the edits an illustration of predetermination interference.

Trump and chap conservatives seized connected CBS’ edits to Harris’ answer, calling them an illustration of predetermination interference.

(Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

CBS has agelong denied specified claims.

Paramount Co-Chief Executive George Cheeks said during the company’s shareholder gathering Wednesday that settlements are designed for companies to debar “being mired successful uncertainty and distraction.”

“Companies often settee litigation to debar the precocious and somewhat unpredictable costs of ineligible defense, the hazard of an adverse judgement that could effect successful important fiscal oregon reputational damage, and the disruption to concern operations that prolonged ineligible battles tin cause,” Cheeks said.

That rationale did small to mollify detractors who alleged that Trump’s complaints were thin.

Vice President Kamala Harris talks to “60 Minutes” analogous Bill Whitaker.

(CBS News)

Paramount’s colony “will beryllium remembered arsenic 1 of the astir shameful capitulations by the property to a president successful history,” said Seth Stern, manager of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

Paramount said the statement with Trump included a merchandise from threatened defamation claims.

But it’s not wide that Paramount’s headaches volition spell away.

Three left-leaning U.S. Senators — Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) privation to instrumentality a person look astatine Paramount’s decision-making.

In May, the senators sent a powerfully worded missive to Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Redstone. They cautioned that a colony could beryllium viewed arsenic bribing an elected authoritative to triumph favorable regulatory attraction with respect to the Skydance merger.

“This could beryllium bribery successful plain sight,” Warren said successful a connection Wednesday. “I’m calling for a afloat probe into whether oregon not immoderate anti-bribery laws were broken.”

“When Democrats retake power, I’ll beryllium archetypal successful enactment calling for national charges,” Wyden separately wrote successful a station connected the Bluesky societal media site. “In the meantime, authorities prosecutors should marque the firm execs who sold retired our ideology reply successful court.”

Some journalists said they feared the colony could person a chilling effect, peculiarly among quality organizations that deficiency heavy pockets oregon person unrelated concern pending earlier the national government.

“CBS News whitethorn upwind the fiscal hit, but smaller newsrooms facing akin ineligible threats could beryllium pushed to the brink,” Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation programme manager astatine the nonprofit PEN America, said successful a statement.

“The information is clear,” Richardson said, calling the colony a “spineless capitulation.”

“Emboldened politicians and almighty actors volition consciousness much escaped than ever to weaponize lawsuits and bring regulatory unit to carnivore to soundlessness and censor autarkic journalism.”