CBS News Staffers Irate Over Talk of Paramount Settling Trump's '60 Minutes' Lawsuit
Staffers at CBS News, the unit that serves as home to the venerable newsmagazine as well as 'CBS Evening News' and has ties to the early days of TV news when Edward R. Murrow held sway, are steaming over the prospect that parent corporation Paramount Global may settle a $10 billion defamation lawsuit filed by now-President Donald Trump against '60' that appears to be underpinned by weak arguments.
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Two reports in recent weeks, one posted Thursday by The New York Times and another earlier this month by The Wall Street Journal, suggested executives at Paramount were considering ways to bring the suit to a close. Filed in federal court in the Northern District of Texas in November, the suit alleges '60 Minutes' tried to mislead voters by airing two different edits of remarks made in an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris, then Trump's rival for the White House. CBS sought to have the case thrown out in a subsequent filing.
Though the suit is seen as shoddily constructed by legal experts, it is levied as Paramount is moving to be acquired by Skydance Media, a transaction worth billions to Shari Redstone, the controlling owner of Paramount through her family's National Amusements Inc. theater chain. CBS News staffers believe Paramount and Redstone could seek a settlement in order to ensure the Skydance deal goes forward without substantial delay.
A court filing on Friday suggested talks could be in the offing. Attorneys for President Trump filed a request to postpone a deadline to respond to CBS' motion to dismiss by February 7. Such a motion doesn't mean a settlement is near, but it could indicate the two sides are having discussions about potential outcomes. The extension was approved.
But there are also new pressures being brought to bear. ''Late Wednesday, CBS News was sent a Letter of Inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission asking for the full, unedited transcript and camera feeds from our interview with Vice President Harris which aired on October 7, 2024,' CBS News said in a Friday statement. We are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do.' The FCC has also reinstated a complaint made last year against New York's WCBS, also part of Paramount, accusing the station of 'intentional news distortion,' tied to the'60 Minutes' interview with Harris.
'We're helpless to whatever Shari and the bosses decide to do,' said one CBS News correspondent. 'But it's a real shame to think the news division is a bargaining chip in this broader deal.'
Spokespersons for Paramount and CBS declined to comment. A spokesperson for Redstone declined to comment.
At least two of the company's top news executives, CBS News and Stations CEO Wendy McMahon and '60 Minutes' executive producer Bill Owens, have made the point to superiors at Paramount corporate that they don't believe the suit should be settled, according to a person familiar with the matter. Such a concession would not only undermine one of TV's most respected journalism programs, but also demoralize CBS News staff. There is some speculation among CBS News employees that a settlement would spur intense blowback by some of CBS News' most prominent anchors and personalities.
While it's not uncommon for a media-conglomerate CEO to keep close to a news division — Jeff Zucker was known to weigh in on the affairs of NBC News when he ran NBCUniversal under General Electric — Redstone sits at the level of the board of directors and has professional managers run the company. Even so, she has in recent months begun to weigh in on various controversies at CBS News — much more frequently than her father, Sumner Redstone, ever had, according to one CBS veteran
In October, Redstone took issue publicly after CBS News executives took issue with an exchange on 'CBS Mornings' between co-anchor Tony Dokoupil and author Ta-Nehisi Coates during which Dokoupil grilled Coates on whether his writing expressed antipathy toward Israel. 'I think we made a mistake,' said Redstone, while speaking at an event in New York City that was part of Advertising Week, an industry conference. 'I think we made a bad mistake this week.'
She is said to have gotten involved earlier this month after '60 Minutes' broadcast a segment that examined opposition by former State Department officials to the Biden administration supporting Israel's push against Hamas. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, called the segment 'a biased and one-sided piece' in a statement, noting that 'Even before this, CBS had a recent history of insensitivity on Jewish issues that was incredibly problematic.' CBS News quickly named Susan Zirinsky, a former president of the news operation, as an interim executive editor, tasked with overseeing standards and helping to vet stories and journalistic practices.
A growing number of media organizations have tried to placate President Trump in recent weeks. Disney's commitment to ABC News came under scrutiny after the company agreed to pay a settlement of $15 million to Donald Trump's presidential library after anchor George Stephanopoulos asserted incorrectly in March said on air that Trump had been found liable in a court case for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump had been found liable by a jury for sexual abuse. Even so, legal experts felt ABC News had a strong chance of prevailing. Amazon has agreed to produce a documentary of First Lady Melania Trump.
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