CBS considers caving on Trump censorship lawsuit to save lots of Paramount merger

A legislation professor cited by CBS Information referred to as Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit over the modifying of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris “…so in poor health grounded that it comes near being sanctionable as frivolous.” However now, the The Wall Avenue Journal reviews that executives at CBS’ mother or father firm, Paramount International, have mentioned settling the swimsuit whereas “gaming out choices to scale back friction with the incoming administration” forward of a authorities evaluate of its merger with Skydance.

The paper reviews that incoming FCC chairman and censor-in-chief Brendan Carr warned execs final 12 months that presidential dissatisfaction with CBS Information will make a evaluate harder. He’s additionally publicly displayed that view, saying throughout a Fox Information interview in November, “…CBS has a transaction earlier than the FCC. I’m fairly assured that information distortion criticism over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is one thing that’s more likely to come up within the context of the FCC’s evaluate of that transaction.”

The lawsuit claims that in airing two in another way edited variations of Harris’ response to a query in regards to the conflict in Gaza, “CBS used its nationwide platform on 60 Minutes to cross the road from the train of judgment in reporting to deceitful, misleading manipulation of reports.”

However as a substitute of mounting a protection of free speech in opposition to a lawsuit and Trump’s accusations that the community stated had been false and fully with out advantage, Paramount is contemplating following the instance of Disney and tech oligarchs who will line up on the inauguration like Mark Zuckerberg.

The ABC Information proprietor agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential basis and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit in December. Zuckerberg sharply redirected Meta’s insurance policies to the precise whereas assembly with Trump, reportedly “partly to mediate a lawsuit Trump introduced in opposition to Fb and Zuckerberg in 2021 over the platform’s suspension of Trump’s account after the Jan. 6 riot on the U.S. Capitol.”