“Enough is enough.” That was the sentiment from inside CBS, one staffer told Vanity Fair, as Paramount reached a settlement agreement on Tuesday with the Trump administration—a move broadly criticized as capitulation. Inside the news institution, which has been rattled by the drawn-out legal saga, executive departures, and claims of editorial interference, all in the context of a looming sale to Skydance, people are ready to move on. Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren plans to drag the fight to Congress, calling for an investigation into the settlement. “It’s been something that has lasted so long as a trauma,” added the source.
And yet, according to this source, “The general sense is no one is happy about it.”
In a near midnight agreement on Tuesday, Paramount settled the defamation lawsuit launched over the editing of a preelection interview on 60 Minutes featuring then vice president Kamala Harris. Under the terms, Paramount has agreed to pay a total of $16 million, all of which will be allocated to his future presidential library, minus legal fees. In a statement, Paramount specified that the settlement “does not include a statement of apology or regret,” however, going forward, “60 Minutes will release transcripts of interviews with eligible US presidential candidates after such interviews have aired.”
Warren called for an investigation into the network’s settlement Wednesday, arguing that “this could be bribery in plain sight.” She added that “Paramount should be ashamed of putting its profits over independent journalism.” Warren also emphasized a “glaring need for rules to restrict donations to sitting presidents’ libraries,” and she will soon be introducing legislation to “rein in corruption.” Senator Bernie Sanders also released a statement slamming the settlement, characterizing Trump’s defamation lawsuit as “bogus” and arguing that “the Redstone family diminished the freedom of the press today in exchange for a $2.4 billion payday.”
“Companies often settle litigation to avoid the high and somewhat unpredictable costs of legal defense, the risk of an adverse judgment that could result in significant financial or reputational damage, and the disruption to business operations that prolonged legal battles can cause,” a Paramount Global spokesperson said in a statement to Vanity Fair in response to concerns of bribery. “Settlement offers a negotiated resolution that allows companies to focus on their core objectives rather than being mired in uncertainty and distraction.”
In a news story reporting the settlement, Benjamin Mullin, Michael Grynbaum, Lauren Hirsch, and David Enrich of The New York Times called the agreement an “extraordinary concession to a sitting president by a major media organization,” as well as “the clearest sign yet that Mr. Trump’s ability to intimidate major American institutions extends to the media industry.”
The Writers Guild of America East, which represents many staffers at CBS News, torched the settlement as a “transparent attempt to curry favors with an administration in the hopes it will allow [the] Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger to be cleared for approval. Paramount’s decision to capitulate to Trump threatens journalists’ ability to do their job reporting on powerful public figures.” Reporters Without Borders, an international nonprofit organization, called the settlement a “shameful decision” by Redstone and the company. “A line is being drawn between the owners of American news media who are willing to stand up for press freedom and those who capitulate to the demands of the president.”
Inside the CBS newsroom, CBS News president and executive editor Tom Cibrowski addressed the settlement on Wednesday’s editorial call, emphasizing that CBS News was not required to apologize as part of the agreement, according to CNN’s Brian Stelter. Cibrowski’s comments included some words of appreciation for CBS News staffers, thanking them for “blocking out the noise” during the legal turmoil. The staffer tells me that while “people aren’t happy about the idea of settling and there’s sadness about it, there’s also an acceptance that for 99% of people, this is out of their hands.”
The lawsuit has generated significant upheaval within CBS News, with the resignation of 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens, who cited the inability to “make independent decisions” about the program as reasoning for his exit, amid looming legal challenges. Just one month later, the president of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, departed the network, telling staffers in a memo that “it’s become clear the company and I do not agree on the path forward.” Meanwhile, Paramount is in the midst of completing a multibillion-dollar sale to Skydance, which would take the financial pressure off of chair and controlling shareholder of Paramount Shari Redstone and place the company in the hands of Skydance CEO David Ellison. Just last month, Fox Business senior correspondent Charles Gasparino told me in an interview that Redstone “has a huge tax bill. She’s wrapped up in this melting ice cube of a company.” He added that Skydance isn’t interested in the company for the news network. “The business that they’re arguing over is something that could go away in literally three or five years.”
A source close to Redstone tells me that she “very much recused herself” from the settlement negotiation process, adding that “she would be an idiot to play a role.” According to the source, Redstone signaled that she would like to settle, but left the specifics of the settlement up to mediators. “I don’t think she was heavy-handed in the negotiations, nor would it be prudent for her to have been,” they added.
Meanwhile, Redstone is also battling thyroid cancer and has been “really focused on her health, even though this whole situation might have, in her mind, caused her cancer from all the stress,” the source said. While some were shocked when Puck reported that Redstone was not on the list for this year’s Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, an annual event frequented by media moguls and billionaires, the source noted that her absence was “simply because of health.”
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The post “No One Is Happy About It.” CBS Staffers Were Tired of the Paramount Drama, but the Settlement Intensifies Media-Capitulation Concerns appeared first on Vanity Fair.
