Paramount is willing to reach a deal to resolve Donald Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News as the studio’s owner Shari Redstone has “concerned” about the balance of the program in recent months.
Paramount is ready to settle Trump's lawsuit, which accuses CBS's flagship 60 minutes Two people familiar with the matter said the news show slandered him by deceptively editing interviews with his political rival Kamala Harris.
The People said the Paramount Board proposed financial terms for a potential settlement at its April 18 meeting. One of the people said the possible settlement could be tens of millions of dollars. Lawyers on both sides are scheduled to start mediation on Wednesday.
CBS lawyers say Trump's lawsuit is groundless, with some of its own journalists condemning a potential deal against the White House by one of the country's most famous news groups.
The openness of Redstone, a billionaire who controls Paramount, has been frustrated with the tone of some of CBS' coverage in recent months, a person familiar with the matter said.
"She has been worried about the balance of CBS news for some time," the person said. Redstone spent a lot of time fighting anti-Semitism following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, who questioned CBS' coverage of the Israel-Hamas war last year. She criticized at a meeting in October.
Although Redstone withdraws Paramount’s board of directors’ deliberations on the settlement, she favors a deal. One person familiar with this said: "We can't just stagnate, we have to move forward something."
If the Trump administration approves Paramount’s consent merger with Hollywood studio Skydance, Redstone and her family will also receive a billion dollars in spending. Brendan Carr, the president's media regulator, has been reviewing the deal for months.
Redstone erupts after Trump slams CBS 60 minutes After playing stories about Ukraine and Greenland, April 13. People familiar with the matter said she called CBS CEO George Cheeks to ask what other stories were being prepared.
“She didn’t ask for an edit to the story, she asked just that they were fair and balanced,” said the person close to Redstone. The person added: "Her thought was: 'We are now in the eyes of the storm. He is posting information about the debris.'
Journalists in the CBS newsroom took Redstone’s move as an example, using billionaire owners to intervene in editorial strategies. Over the past year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and pharmaceutical billionaire Patrick Soon-Son-Shiong have angered the newsrooms of the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times, respectively.
60 minutes' Top producer Bill Owens resigned last week in protest what he said was the loss of journalistic independence. In an unusual broadcast condemnation, 60 minutes Anchor Scott Pelley ended Sunday’s broadcast, telling viewers Paramount has begun “supervising our content in new ways” when trying to complete the merger.
Paramount’s puzzle highlights the extraordinary power the U.S. president plays in U.S. companies.
Carl denied that CBS’ lawsuit affected his deliberations on Paramount’s Skydance agreement. But the most important executives believe that the two processes are intertwined.
The legend has been criticized by journalists outside CBS, who say Paramount’s concessions to Trump will cause permanent damage to news organizations.
“When surrendering (Redstone), it hurts the value of the assets she is trying to sell, basically telling the world that one of the most famous brands in the news can be kept silent, manipulated or humiliated, is a former Wall Street editor Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the University of Southern California.
60 minutes It has been a fixture for American living rooms since the 1970s and is home to news legends such as Walter Cronkite. The plan is still attracting 7MN audiences on Sunday night. In recent weeks, it has continued to cover the Trump administration extensively.
“In journalism, currency is trust,” Kahn said. “CBS News is one of the few places that still maintain a high reputation for trust and affluent.”
The New York Times previously reported details of Paramount’s plan and the April board meeting.
Last year, Trump sued ABC News after host George Stephanopoulos falsely stated that Trump was found to be "responsible for rape." Disney, which owns ABC, paid $15 million to Trump's presidential library in December to resolve defamation lawsuits.
As mediation began, Trump defeated again at CBS on Wednesday.
"We are the real winners for the 60-minute case. They cheated and deceived the American people on the political stage," he wrote in his social media platform Truth Social. "CBS has gotten out of control, never seen levels, and they should pay a huge price for it. Make America great again!"
Other reports by Christopher Grimes