NEW YORK — Media giant Paramount Global, which owns the CBS television network, will pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle a libel suit. In exchange Trump will approve Paramount’s pending acquisition of Skydance Media under the table – an $8.4 billion mega-merger that requires approval from the Trump-controlled U.S. Justice Department. Critics called the deal a “quid-pro-quo” exchange – legalese for bribery. In recent weeks, amid suspicions that Paramount was about to settle, morale has plummeted at CBS News and the newsrooms of the network’s owned and operated stations:
> Minnesota, WCCO in Minneapolis.
> California: KCBS in Los Angeles, KPIX in San Francisco, KOVR in Sacramento.
> Colorado: KCNC in Denver.
> Florida: WFOR n Miami.
> Illinois: WBBM in Chicago.
> Maryland: WJZ in Baltimore.
> Massachusetts: WBZ in Boston.
> New York: WCBS in New York.
> Pennsylvania: KYW on Philadelphia, KDKA in Pittsburgh.
> Texas: KTVT in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Confidence was also shaken in the journalistic independence and integrity of the network at 228 affiliate stations that carry CBS programming and newscasts.
Earlier: WCCO owner CBS ousts network news chief
Trump shakedown?
Trump claimed he was libeled by how a CBS interview with 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Hariss was edited for the news magazine “60 Minutes.” News media are usually exempted from libels that occur in political coverage. When suits are allowed against news media, courts insist that there be a demonstration of damages. But Trump won the 2024 election — so what are the damages? The settlement doesn’t deal with the merits of Trump’s case or the lack thereof. Indeed, Trump didn’t even seek an apology in the settlement — just the money.