Paramount faces backlash over its $16-million Trump settlement

Critics detonated the decision of Paramount Global’s decision to pay $ 16 million to resolve the chairman Trump’s “60 minutes” arrangements, and called us a “spinless surrender” that transcends the freedom of the press.

On Tuesday, Paramount adopted a turning point with Trump to end the width of $ 20 billion against CBS News. Paramount said it would not be paid directly or indirectly to the President as part of the agreement. Instead, money will cover Trump’s legal wages and help finance the future presidential library.

Paramount leaders hope that the regulators appointed by Trump of the settlement will help to clean a road to bless the company’s sale of $ 8 billion to David Ellison’s Skydance media. The president wanted to destroy the tensions.

However, journalists and others said on Wednesday that the return will strengthen the attacks of Trump and its allies in news organizations. Some of them called their settlement Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace, a stain on the proud heritage of CBS News, a one -time house of fearless journalists.

“This is an embarrassing decision by Paramount, Clay Sayton Weimers, General Manager of Journalists, said. “Shari Redstone and Paramount’s CBS journalists and the integrity of the freedom of press.

Trump’s legal team celebrated the settlement rapidly: “President Donald J. Trump once again held another victory for the American people, as he kept the false news media responsible for injustice and deception.”

Bob Corn-Revere, the President of the Individual Rights and Expression Foundation, the Foundation of the Foundation of the 1st Change, said that wider echoes would emerge.

“A cold wind flew up in every news room, Corn Corn-Revere said in a statement. “Paramount may have closed this case, but the government opened the door to the idea that the media should be the chief editor of the media.”

Only Democratic Federal Communication Commissioner Anna M. Gomez on the panel said that the settlement “is a desperate movement [by Paramount] Still the management of a large process before FCC and secure the regulatory approval. “

“This moment points to a dangerous precedent for this moment and alert to anyone who values ​​a free and independent press,” Gomez said.

For months, Paramount executives have been torn into Trump’s $ 20 billion case. The dispute helped the two CBS news executives, who continued “60 minutes”, to continue to continue the stories of Trump’s policies and actions harshly.

Journalists were horrified by the Board’s desire to resolve the case, rather than defending the freedom of 1st change.

CBS News employees were afraid that the company would have to apologize when they said they didn’t do anything wrong. (The settlement negotiated through a mediator did not require an apology.)

Legal Wrangling began in October, when CBS published different parts of an answer to a question about the declining influence of the Biden administration of the Biden administration of the Biden administration of the then President of the CBS at the time.

The CBS’s “Face The National” program directed a clip of Harris, who gave a mixed answer to the question. A day later, he published a different part of the “60 minutes” answer. This was strong and concise.

CBS agreed to organize Harris’s answer.

Trump and other conservatives seized in arrangements, claiming that the CBS manipulated the answer to make Harris look more authorized to improve his stance with voters. He called the arrangements as an example of election intervention.

The CBS has rejected such allegations for a long time.

Paramount Joint Chief Manager George Cheeks said that during the company’s shareholder meeting, on Wednesday, companies were designed to prevent companies with “uncertainty and distraction”.

“Companies are generally sued for a negative risk of decision -making, high and slightly unpredictable legal defense costs, significant financial or reputation damage and long -term legal wars, and sued for disruptions in business operations.

This logic did very little to cut the detectors claiming that Trump’s complaints were weak.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with Bill Whitaker, a reporter of the “60 minutes” reporter.

(CBS News)

Seth Stern, Director of Freedom of Press Foundation, will be remembered as one of the most embarrassing surrender of a president in history.

Paramount said he was released from the allegations of insults under the threat of the agreement with Trump.

However, it is not clear that Paramount’s headaches will disappear.

The three left-leaning US Senator-Elizabeth Warren (D-Masses.), Bernie Sanders (I-VT.) And Ron Wyden (D-Or.) Want to take a closer look at Paramount’s decision.

In May, Senators sent a strong letter To Redstone, the control owner of Paramount. He warned that a settlement could be bribed to a selected official to gain a positive regulatory treatment for the Skydance merger.

Warren said on Wednesday, Warren, “This can be a bribe at this open view,” he said. “I call for a complete investigation as to whether the law of fighting any bribery is broken.”

“When the Democrats reclaim power, I will call for federal charges in the first place,” he wrote in an article on the Bluesky social media site separately from Wyden. “In the meantime, state prosecutors should make corporate managers who sell our democracy response in court.”

Some journalists said that the settlement may have a creepy effect among news organizations who have no deep pockets or have an indifferent job waiting before the Federal government.

“CBS News may provide a ventilation of financial accuracy, but smaller news rooms that face similar legal threats can be pushed to the threshold,“ he said.

“The danger is open, Ric Richardson said, describing the settlement as“ Spinless surrender ”.

“Embolized politicians and powerful actors will feel more free than ever to arms cases and bring regulatory pressure to silence and censor independent journalism.”