Hey, welcome to Wednesday. Here's the latest on President Trump, Rupert Murdoch, "Jurassic World Rebirth," Law360, Spotify, "The Bear," and more... |
CBS News did nothing wrong. But its parent company still paid the price.
That's the moral of the Paramount settlement story. And it's a story that keeps repeating itself in the Trump era.
Just a few minutes before midnight ET, Paramount confirmed that it is paying $16 million to make Trump's legally dubious "60 Minutes" lawsuit go away.
Paramount did not agree to any apology — which was a major point of tension. But it did agree to help fund Trump's future presidential library. Overall, a plugged-in CBS News staffer told me, reflecting what I've heard from numerous others, "this is a very sad moment for '60 Minutes,' CBS News and journalism."
The Writers Guild of America East, which represents writers at "60" and across the news division, said this morning that the settlement is a "transparent attempt to curry favors with an administration in the hopes it will allow Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger to be cleared for approval."
Paramount maintains that "this lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process." That's the next big question: What will happen with the deal? We'll get to that in a moment. But first...
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This is a disturbing development |
It's going to take time for CBS News to absorb this gut punch. The newsroom has been distracted and dismayed by Trump's pressure and corporate intrigue for months now. There is widespread outrage and disgust, according to staffers who spoke on condition of anonymity. But this morning, one of the sources said, there is also"a slight sense of relief that we can start to put this behind us."
CBS News president Tom Cibrowski addressed the topic at the top of the newsroom's 9am editorial call and emphasized the no-apology part of the deal. He thanked staffers for "blocking out the noise" of the past few months and said the newsroom's perseverance was remarkable to watch up close. It's important to "lock arms," he said, and move forward reporting the news.
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'An insult to the First Amendment' |
I have an educated guess about what Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and her board of directors would say if they ever went on the record about this deal. They would say they did what had to be done. They would say it wasn't pretty, and that it never is, but that they acted in the best interests of shareholders and eliminated a legal threat that was hovering over, and hurting, CBS News.
As CNN's Laura Coates pointed out in our early morning TV conversation about the breaking news, "it is their prerogative to settle cases." Indeed, companies do settle litigation all the time for all sorts of reasons.
Normally, however, the litigant is not a sitting president. And settling in this instance might trigger another case. The Freedom of the Press Foundation has said that it will file a shareholder's derivative lawsuit over any settlement with Trump. The group's lawyers are huddling today, I'm told. A spokesperson said "Paramount's spineless decision to settle Trump's patently unconstitutional lawsuit is an insult to the First Amendment and to the journalists and viewers of '60 Minutes.' It's a dark day for Paramount and for press freedom."
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Trump's reality distortion field |
On one level, the settlement proves just how weak Trump's case was all along, and how hollow his claims of "election interference" really were. I mean, it's hard to claim $20 billion in damages and settle for 0.08% of that, and call that a win.
But calling it a win is exactly what Team Trump is doing. This morning's statement from a spokesman for Trump's legal team illustrates why the payoff is so embarrassing for CBS.
"With this record settlement, President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit," the spokesman said. "CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle. President Trump will always ensure that no one gets away with lying to the American People as he continues on his singular mission to Make America Great Again."
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As Paul Farhi noted here, Trump's tally from media and information company settlements from the past seven months alone currently sits at around $67 million.
Paramount's settlement is a mirror image of the $16 million deal that Disney's ABC struck with Trump last December, minus the admission of regret that ABC doled out. And the monetary repetition doesn't seem like a coincidence. Paying the same amount as Disney may inoculate Paramount from charges that it is paying a bribe to the president to win merger approval. And it definitely underscores that the Disney deal was a blueprint of sorts for Trump's power plays...
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🖊️ Transcripts in the future |
CBS, much to its credit, published a robust story about the settlement on its website overnight. The story notes that "Paramount also agreed that '60 Minutes' will release transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates in the future, 'subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.'"
>> Thought bubble: If CBS had released the full Kamala Harris transcript in October, back when Trump demanded to see it, would he have gone on the warpath against the network?
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What will the FCC do now? |
Lightshed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield reacted to the settlement news by saying, "Looks like Paramount acquisition by Skydance will close in July! The Redstone era is close to a finale."
Of course, FCC chair Brendan Carr has maintained that his (unusually lengthy) review of the Paramount-Skydance deal is separate from Trump's lawsuit against CBS. But before being promoted to chairman, the Trump appointee said complaints over the "60 Minutes" edit would be "likely to arise" as part of the FCC's process. And there is still a absurd "news distortion" complaint sitting before the FCC.
>> I texted Carr asking for comment this morning and haven't heard back.
>> Meantime, here's what CBS News staffers want to know: What kind of owner will Skydance's David Ellison be? Will he preserve the independence of "60 Minutes," champion the news division, and help the network move past this sordid chapter?
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CNN's top homepage headline right now: "Divided House set to take up Trump's megabill." Here's the very latest.
"The bill almost seems designed to generate a political backlash," Jonathan Chait writes for The Atlantic, while wondering if Republican lawmakers "don't understand just how unpopular the bill is apt to be when it takes effect."
Chait posits that GOP lawmakers may have been lulled into complacency by "party-aligned" media sources that "have mostly cheered the bill while ignoring its downsides." Also: "Both chambers of Congress have rushed the bill through with minimal scrutiny, shielding members from exposure to concerns."
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'How tech's bold bid to curb AI laws fell apart' |
This is a terrific piece by WaPo's Will Oremus about how and why "a GOP-led effort to stop states from regulating AI collapsed" during Senate consideration of the BBB. The House version of the bill would have banned state and local AI laws and "left the industry essentially unregulated." But the Senate stripped that provision — "a resounding defeat for the tech industry," Oremus writes...
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Judge orders journo's release |
The US Press Freedom Tracker recently identified Mario Guevara as the only journalist in custody in the United States. Guevara, who came from El Salvador on a tourist visa in 2004, was transferred into ICE custody after being arrested while covering a "No Kings" protest last month, but on Tuesday an immigration judge in Georgia ordered his release on bond. The Committee to Protect Journalists said this means he can "return to his work and family while his case proceeds." Here's our full story.
>> CPJ's Katherine Jacobsen, who attended Tuesday's court hearing, said press freedom advocates "remain concerned about the arguments the prosecution made that Guevara's work as a reporter presented a danger to the community."
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Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment |
Starting today "it's 'Jurassic World Rebirth' all the time, until DC Studios/Warner Bros’ 'Superman' opens next week," Deadline reports, forecasting up to $260 million in global box office revenue for the flick between now and Sunday.
As a "Jurassic" franchise devotee, I'm a little worried about the new film's relatively weak reviews; it only has a 53% score over at Rotten Tomatoes. The NYT's Alissa Wilkinson argues "the popular dinosaur franchise is starting to show signs of wear." I'm heading to the theater later todayzanyway...
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Universal is using the new "Jurassic" film to roll out "the hotly anticipated first trailer" for Christopher Nolan's next film, "The Odyssey" — and in keeping with Nolan's cinematic preferences, it was supposed to only appear in theaters. "Yet, unfortunately for Universal and Nolan, smartphones exist. So almost immediately, the trailer popped up on X," THR's James Hibberd reports.
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>> CNN's Fred Pleitgen talked with Scott Roxborough about his recent trip to Tehran and "what most Iran coverage gets wrong." (THR)
>> In recent weeks, Trump has called Rupert Murdoch "for his views on the conflict between Israel and Iran and, in particular, Washington’s involvement." (NBC)
>> Reps for ESPN and the MLB "have renewed talks to keep the sports network involved in the game after a contentious break-up earlier this year," Andrew Marchand reports. (NYT)
>> "Axios is changing its editorial policies to be more friendly to AI use." (X)
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Does the AI tool think this headline is biased? |
"A new policy at Law360, the legal news service owned by LexisNexis, requires that every story pass through an AI-powered 'bias' detection tool before publication," and it's causing a commotion in the 350-person newsroom, Andrew Deck reports for NiemanLab. He says this is the "latest example of a newsroom turning to LLMs for easy answers to sticky questions around editorial bias..."
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>> Nestor Ramos is becoming National editor at the NYT, with Monica Davey as the desk's managing editor. (NYT)
>> MSNBC is continuing to staff up its NBC-less news operation, adding Vaughn Hillyard, Laura Barrón-López, David Noriega, and Marc Santia. (THR)
>> Adam Cancryn is leaving Politico and joining CNN as a WH reporter. (CNN)
>> Kevin Delaney is selling his digital publication Charter to The San Francisco Standard, and he will serve as editor-in-chief of both. (NYT)
>> Neal Carruth is joining Silver Tribe Media as general manager. (Talking Biz)
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The Daily Telegraph's front page this morning says "Davie fights for job after Glastonbury hate chant." That may be an overstatement about BBC director-general Tim Davie, but here is the Telegraph's account of the situation.
>> English punk-rap duo Bob Vylan said in a statement yesterday they are "not for the death of Jews, Arabs, or any other race or group of people," but they are for "the dismantling of a violent military machine."
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>> It's a "content explosion:" New research shows how "consumer-grade AI tools have supercharged Russian-aligned disinformation as pictures, videos, QR codes, and fake websites have proliferated." (Wired)
>> Serial entrepreneur Nikita Bier is joining X as its new head of product. Bier quipped, "I've officially posted my way to the top." (Business Insider)
>> Threads "is rolling out users' most-requested feature to date: the ability to message people directly." (TechCrunch)
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Entertainment odds and ends |
>> The jury in the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial is resuming deliberations this morning after reaching a partial verdict yesterday. (CNN)
>> New this morning: Netflix has held talks with Spotify "about partnering on a number of projects such as a music awards show or a live concert series" and has also discussed "doing big celebrity interviews and shorter-turnaround documentaries to capture the news of the moment," Jessica Toonkel scoops. (WSJ)
>> "BTS told fans that they’re all heading to the U.S. this month to begin working on new music that is currently slated for a spring 2026 release." (THR)
>> FX has renewed "The Bear" for a fifth season, just days after all 10 episodes of season four dropped. It will premiere in 2026. (Deadline)
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