Latest news with #ParamountSettlement
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jon Stewart and Steve Kroft Break Down Paramount's $16 Million Trump Settlement, Former '60 Minutes' Correspondent Slams Deal as ‘Tribute to the King'
On this week's episode of 'The Daily Show,' host Jon Stewart was joined by journalist Steve Kroft to discuss Paramount's $16 million settlement with Donald Trump, a deal the former '60 Minutes' correspondent called 'tribute to the king.' Stewart opened the interview by asking Kroft what it meant for a news organization like '60 Minutes' to pay such a large settlement to the president, offering the word 'devastating' as a descriptor for internal attitudes. Kroft agreed that 'devastating' was a 'good word' for the situation. More from Variety Trump Claims '60 Minutes' Settlement Is Worth as Much as $35 Million Including 'Advertising'; Paramount Denies Deal Includes PSAs Dan Rather on Paramount's $16 Million Trump Settlement: 'It Was a Sell-Out to Extortion by the President' (EXCLUSIVE) California Gov. Gavin Newsom Says Paramount's Trump Settlement 'Seems Transactional,' Tells Media Companies to 'Do the Right Thing' Amid Threats 'I think there's a lot of fear,' Kroft said. 'Fear of losing their job, fear of what's happening to the country, fear of losing the First Amendment. All of those things.' When asked why he thinks Paramount paid the settlement, Kroft cleverly dodged the question, stating that 'a couple of congressmen think that it was bribery.' He later let his own thoughts be known, calling the deal 'a shakedown.' 'That's what I call it,' he added. 'Some people call it extortion.' He later explained that many in the journalism community feel similarly about Paramount's decision to pay up. 'It's not just me or '60 Minutes' or you that think it's a shakedown,' Kroft said. 'It's pretty much every reporter that's looked at this case and said, 'This is ridiculous. It's going to be thrown out of any court that it goes before.' Except maybe one in Amarillo, [Texas], and that's where they brought the suit.' When asked how the media should respond to such a historic development, Kroft took the opportunity to point out that Trump didn't get everything he wanted from the Paramount camp. 'This lawsuit, the one thing that they didn't get, Trump didn't get, he didn't get an apology, and he had been pushing really hard,' he explained. 'He was demanding an apology and wanted CBS to admit that it had made a mistake, so he could use that against [them] and erode the credibility of the program and the network. But he did not get it, and that was, that's important.' Trump filed a lawsuit against Paramount and CBS days before the 2024 presidential election. In it, he alleged that a '60 Minutes' interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump's former presidential opponent, violated a Texas consumer-protection law and misled voters. He originally asked for $10 billion in damages, but then upped it to $20 billion in an amendment. Trump thought the edited interview made Harris look 'more presidential' and claimed that it was 'the biggest Broadcasting SCANDAL in History!!!' All against the backdrop of Paramount's $8 billion deal with Skydance, which awaits approval from the Trump-controlled FCC, the studio agreed to pay the president $16 million rather than fight on against a lawsuit they had previously slammed as 'meritless.' Watch Stewart's entire interview with Kroft below. Best of Variety Oscars 2026: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Wagner Moura and More Among Early Contenders to Watch New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elizabeth Warren Demands Bribery Investigation as Paramount Settles With Trump
Elizabeth Warren is joining the chorus of backlash against Paramount Global's settlement with President Donald Trump, and she suspects the entire transaction may have been illegal. Reacting to the settlement news on Wednesday, Warren called for an investigation into whether Paramount or the president violated anti-bribery laws with the $16 million settlement after what she called a 'meritless' lawsuit. Specifically, Warren said she and fellow Democratic Senators Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden are concerned the media corporation may have engaged in 'potentially illegal conduct.' 'With Paramount folding to Donald Trump at the same time the company needs his administration's approval for its billion-dollar merger, this could be bribery in plain sight,' Warren, 76, wrote in a press release. On Tuesday, Paramount, which owns CBS, reached a settlement with President Trump in a lawsuit he filed against the company last fall over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. The president alleged that the long-running news series had 'deceptively edited' the interview with Harris to 'tip the scales in favor of the Democratic party.' Trump also called for CBS to lose its broadcasting license over the interview, calling 60 Minutes' reporting on him 'fraudulent beyond recognition.' As part of the settlement, Paramount will donate $15 million to Trump's presidential library and pay another $1 million to cover his legal fees. An apology from the network was not part of the settlement. However, 60 Minutes will have to release the full transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates going forward. Warren took specific issue with the settlement being funneled through Trump's not-yet-existent library, adding in her press release that she plans to introduce new legislation that will 'rein in corruption through presidential library donations.' While legal experts considered the suit largely unwarranted and expected it to be dismissed before the settlement, Paramount may have had a vested interest in making nice with the president, according to multiple reports. The company is currently in the midst of positioning an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, which requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission to continue. Although Paramount has maintained that the settlement is 'completely separate' from its merger with Skydance, the FCC's Trump-appointed chairman has already contradicted that idea. In November 2024, months before he was sworn in, FCC chairman Brendan Carr preemptively told Fox News that he would kill the planned merger over the 60 Minutes debacle. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, called the settlement a 'desperate move' that 'marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment [and] should alarm anyone who values a free and independent press.' Gomez also called for Paramount's merger to go before a full commission vote instead of being approved by an assigned staff member, which could potentially damage the merger's chances of approval. The close timing of these two events, the lawsuit and Paramount's merger, raised similar questions for Warren about whether the settlement was merely an attempt to secure FCC approval by appealing to the president with a donation. Even before reaching a settlement, Paramount and CBS had received massive blowback for appearing to capitulate to President Trump, from Democratic politicians and its own employees alike. In April, shortly after Paramount announced it would seek a settlement with Trump, longtime 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens abruptly resigned, saying he felt he was no longer free to make independent editorial decisions. A month later, CBS News and Stations CEO Wendy McMahon also departed the network. At the time, she told staff in a memo obtained by the Daily Beast, 'It's become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward.' After the settlement, The Hollywood Reporter reported that employees at CBS reacted with a 'mix of disgust and relief,' but the stipulation that 60 Minutes would not be forced to apologize for the segment had prevented a 'revolt' among employees. In her statement, Warren said Paramount had 'refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry' about the lawsuit from Trump, forcing her to open an investigation.
Fox News
03-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
CBS anchor claims Paramount settlement with Trump poses 'new obstacles' for journalists at the network
CBS News anchor John Dickerson lamented parent company Paramount's multi-million dollar settlement with President Donald Trump on Wednesday. "Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News, settled a suit with President Trump today," Dickerson said on CBS Evening News Plus, a news program on their streaming service. "Journalists don't like to report on themselves. Sometimes that's false humility. Mostly, it's a practical limitation. Reporters try to find order in chaos." Dickerson said the settlement and ones like it hinder the press' ability to "hold power to account." "The Paramount settlement poses a new obstacle," Dickerson said. "Can you hold power to account after paying it millions? Can an audience trust you when it thinks you've traded away that trust? The audience will decide that our job is to show up to honor what we witness." Fox News Digital has learned that the sum being paid to Trump could reach north of $30 million with $16 million being paid upfront for his future presidential library, in addition to another allocation in the eight figures set aside for advertisements, public service announcements, or other similar transmissions, in support of conservative causes by the network in the future. Current Paramount management disputes the additional allocation, and a source familiar with Paramount's current leadership told Fox New Digital only $16 million was sanctioned by the official mediator, and they have no knowledge of any deal Trump made with incoming ownership as Paramount is set to merge with David Ellison's Skydance Media. However, Fox News Digital has learned that the incoming ownership will be responsible for the additional allocation. During the "CBS Evening News" program, which airs on broadcast TV to a much-wider audience, Dickerson had less to say about the settlement. "In the end, Paramount decided to settle a suit it said is without basis in law and fact and an affront to the First Amendment," Dickerson said, quoting from a previous filing from Paramount. Trump initially sought $20 billion in his lawsuit against CBS over its handling of a "60 Minutes" interview last year with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing the network of election interference leading up to the 2024 contest. CBS is not acknowledging any journalistic wrongdoing with the settlement.
Gizmodo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Gizmodo
Senator Wants to File Bribery Charges Over Paramount's Hush Money to Trump
Paramount, the owner of CBS News, announced late Tuesday it had agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump, according to the Wall Street Journal. The lawsuit alleged that '60 Minutes' had edited an interview with Kamala Harris to make it more favorable to her in the lead up to the 2024 presidential election, making it one of the most laughably absurd lawsuits Trump has ever filed. But Paramount is forking over millions anyway in what many are calling a transparent bribe. And at least one elected Democrat says he's not going to let it stand. Sen. Ron Wyden, a progressive Democrat from Oregon, is not happy with the deal reached by Paramount, which will see the media company pay for Trump's legal fees and hand millions to his presidential library. Paramount Global is trying to merge with Skydance Media, something that Trump will now be able to greenlight. 'Paramount just paid Trump a bribe for merger approval,' Wyden wrote on Bluesky. 'When Democrats retake power, I'll be first in line calling for federal charges. In the meantime, state prosecutors should make the corporate execs who sold out our democracy answer in court, today.' Wyden wasn't the only Democrat upset with the deal. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont who caucuses with the Dems, said the Redstone family, major owners of Paramount, had settled a 'bogus lawsuit' and it set a dangerous precedent for both the First Amendment and what he called 'government extortion.' 'Paramount's decision will only embolden Trump to continue attacking, suing and intimidating the media which he has labeled 'the enemy of the people.'' Sanders said in a statement published by reporter Max Tani on Bluesky. 'It is a dark day for independent journalism and freedom of the press—an essential part of our democracy. It is a victory for a president who is attempting to stifle dissent and undermine American democracy.' Sanders went on to say it's 'pretty obvious' why Paramount was choosing to 'surrender to Trump.' 'The Redstone family is in line to receive $2.4 billion from the sale of Paramount to Skydance, but they can only receive this money if the Trump administration approves this deal,' Sanders wrote. 'In other words, the Redstone family diminished the freedom of the press today in exchange for a $2.4 billion payday.' The part that makes all of this so ridiculous is that '60 Minutes' clearly did nothing wrong. Trump says the video was edited to make Harris look better. But if you look at the unedited interview and compare it to what aired, there's absolutely nothing substantively different. The average viewer didn't get a different answer than what she meant to communicate. Every edit made was clearly part of the regular splicing and dicing that happens when TV news organizations are trying to cut something together to match time constraints without significantly altering what's been said. On top of it all, Harris lost. It's not like Trump can even argue that Harris benefited from the interview in a way that changed the outcome of the election. He's just a sore winner and trying to use every tool at his disposal to advance his fascist agenda. And unless Democrats are able to radically change things, they won't even get a chance to file those bribery charges while they're in the minority. ABC News and Meta have also reached multi-million dollar agreements to settle frivolous lawsuits with Trump which have also been seen as bribes. Those lawsuits also had no foundation but management agreed to pay anyway, just like Paramount. But as long as Trump can extort major media and technology companies, it seems like he's just going to keep doing it.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Democratic FCC commissioner blasts Paramount settlement with Trump as 'desperate move'
(Reuters) -A Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission called Paramount's $16 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump over a CBS News' 60 Minutes interview broadcast with rival Kamala Harris "a desperate move" to secure approval of a merger. Paramount needs approval from the FCC for an $8.4-billion merger with Skydance Media. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said the settlement over an entirely "meritless" lawsuit "now casts a long shadow over the integrity of the transaction pending before the FCC" and "marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment." Sign in to access your portfolio
