7 hours ago
Heiress who sold CBS News says she was secretly pleased by Trump attacks on its slanted broadcasts
An heiress who used to own CBS's parent company Paramount says she welcomed Donald Trump suing the broadcaster over alleged biased coverage on its flagship news show.
Shari Redstone, 71, conceded to The New York Times that 'We needed more balance' - although she and the president had been offended by different broadcasts.
Trump sued CBS after claiming the network's flagship current affairs show 60 Minutes had deceptively edited a Kamala Harris interview to make her look better.
Meanwhile, Redstone said she'd been offended by a separate 60 Minutes episode on the Israel-Hamas war she felt was too slanted in favor of the Palestinian cause.
She said: 'Part of me thought, maybe Trump could accomplish what I never got done.'
Redstone, the daughter of the late entertainment magnate Sumner Redstone, says she realized she wanted to sell Paramount in the wake of Hamas ' October 7 2023 massacre in Israel, that saw 1,200 Israelis murdered.
She explained: 'Once that happened, I wanted out. I wanted to support Israel, and address issues around antisemitism and racism.'
Shortly after that, another heir called David Ellison contacted her asking if she'd sell to Skydance, the production company he'd set up.
Redstone closed the sale for $8 billion last month and took home an estimated $2.8 billion of that payout.
That deal was struck around the same time CBS settled with Trump for $16 million over the Kamala Harris interview he said was deceptive.
Lawyers said the network had strong grounds to contest Trump's claims.
But Redstone's sale of Paramount had to be rubber-stamped by Trump's Federal Communications Commission - with the settlement seen by critics as a dirty deal to grease the wheels.
Redstone told The Times that she found 60 Minutes veteran journalist Lesley Stahl's criticism of the settlement 'particularly hurtful.'
The heiress insisted she'd just wanted to get the deal done to help give CBS News a secure future.
'We needed more balance,' Redstone went on to tell the Times, suggesting such segments - including others that were no specified were slanted. 'Part of me thought, maybe Trump could accomplish what I never got done'
Simultaneously, Redstone was secretly thyroid battling cancer. The billionairess, who trained as a social worker, underwent surgery in May after the disease spread to her coal cords.
Asked how she came the decision, Redstone said: 'My legacy was to create security for my family and to put the company in good hands.'
She added how despite 'many challenges... we did what we set out to do.'
