Paramount-Skydance merger approved after companies agree to government speech demands
In light of the Trump administration's critiques of CBS's alleged anti-conservative bias — including collecting a $16 million settlement over the president's lawsuit over an allegedly deceptively edited video of then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes — the companies' commitment to address bias in the lawsuit likely means featuring more conservative programming. Skydance agreed to employ an ombudsman for at least two years, 'who will receive and evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns involving CBS.'
'Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly. It is time for a change,' Republican FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement announcing the agency's approval. 'That is why I welcome Skydance's commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.' He said the commitments 'would enable CBS to operate in the public interest and focus on fair, unbiased, and fact-based coverage,' and mark 'another step forward in the FCC's efforts to eliminate invidious forms of DEI discrimination.' Carr also boasts that Skydance 'reaffirms its commitment to localism as a core component of the public interest standard,' and that the approval will 'unleash the investment of $1.5 billion into Paramount.'
Carr has made no secret of his distaste for news coverage he sees as disproportionately unfavorable to the right and DEI policies he believes contribute to unfair treatment. He's opened investigations into all three major networks as well as NPR and PBS (NBCUniversal and its owner Comcast are investors in The Verge parent company Vox Media). A week ago, CBS announced it was retiring The Late Show, hosted by Trump critic and comedian Stephen Colbert. The network said it was 'purely a financial decision.'
The FCC's only remaining Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, dissented, writing that, 'In an unprecedented move, this once-independent FCC used its vast power to pressure Paramount to broker a private legal settlement and further erode press freedom … Even more alarming, it is now imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law.' Still, she gave Carr credit for calling a vote on the matter, rather than rubber-stamping the merger through one of the agency's bureaus, like it did for the Verizon-Frontier merger, which similarly required an end to DEI programs.
Gomez warns that this agreement is just the canary in the coal mine. 'The Paramount payout and this reckless approval have emboldened those who believe the government can—and should—abuse its power to extract financial and ideological concessions, demand favored treatment, and secure positive media coverage,' she writes. 'It is a dark chapter in a long and growing record of abuse that threatens press freedom in this country. But such violations endure only when institutions choose capitulation over courage. It is time for companies, journalists, and citizens alike to stand up and speak out, because unchecked and unquestioned power has no rightful place in America.'
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