Paramount Global executives have held internal talks about settling a lawsuit filed by President-elect Donald Trump over CBS News’ interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a report.
Paramount, the parent company of CBS, is hoping to close its planned merger with Skydance Media in the coming months but has been sued by Trump for allegedly favorably editing the “60 Minutes” sit-down with Harris just before the election
In recent months, it has become clear that Trump’s dissatisfaction with CBS News is proving to be a major hurdle, and it will likely need to pony up concessions to win approval, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The Post had previously reported that the deal will likely remain in regulatory purgatory for the foreseeable future under Trump-nominated FCC chair Brendan Carr, unless it satisfies certain “fairness” conditions that will be demanded by Trump’s FCC.
The FCC has authority over the deal because it would involve the transfer of broadcast TV licenses held by local CBS-owned stations.
The Journal said there was no indication that Paramount had approached Trump’s team about a settlement, but executives at the company were gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration in order to facilitate the merger.
A rep for Trump did not immediately comment on whether Paramount had contacted the President-elect’s team.
One source told The Post that the talks have been described as “informal,” meaning there have been no presentations or formal plans devised.
Reps for Paramount and Skydance did not comment.
At issue is Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against CBS, which alleges that the network committed election interference by editing portions of the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris to eliminate a “word salad” answer about the Israel-Hamas war.
Trump claimed CBS aired one version of the interview on “60 Minutes” and another version on its show “Face the Nation,” each containing different answers, and demanded the network release the transcript of the taped interview.
CBS has said it aired a more succinct version of Harris’s interview on “60 Minutes” for clarity. It has refused to release a full transcript of the interview.
Reports of settlement talks follow a capitulation by rival ABC News in a defamation suit brought by Trump.
He sued the Disney-owned network and star anchor George Stephanopoulos over comments the “This Week” host made on air stating that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
A federal jury determined Trump was liable for sexual abuse.
Last month, Disney settled the defamation lawsuit, agreeing to contribute $15 million to Trump’s presidential foundation or museum and to pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s lawyer.
Recently, Carr wrote a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, ripping national news media, saying: “Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.”
His thinking extends to CBS’ coverage, as well.
As a result, Paramount and Skydance execs have considered a number of possible changes, such as bringing in more oversight over CBS News editorial operations, adding new processes around programming and possibly releasing the transcript of its “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, The Journal reported.
This week, CBS News announced that it appointed veteran CBS News producer Susan Zirinsky as executive editor to oversee the network’s editorial process and journalistic standards on an interim basis amid allegations of bias.
The network is currently looking for a permanent hire and has reached out to several cable news execs for the role, a source said.
Trump will curry favor when it comes to the merger getting greenlit. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
The move follows a handful of missteps by the network, including its most recent flap over a Jan. 12 segment on “60 Minutes” about the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza. The segment triggered concerns over bias at the news division.
Jewish organizations and the Anti-Defamation League ripped the episode for being slanted against Israel.
Executives internally raised questions about why more context wasn’t added to the piece to make it more balanced, The Journal reported.
Meanwhile, Skydance, which is run by David Ellison — the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a Trump booster — is itching to close the $8 billion Paramount deal, which has painstakingly taken months to hammer out with controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who also has a good relationship with Trump.
Under the terms of the deal, Skydance and its investors agreed buy out Redstone’s Paramount stake and merge it with Skydance, which as produced films for the studio that include the latest “Mission: Impossible” sequels and “Top Gun: Maverick.”
A person close to Skydance said David Ellison would support measures to promote unbiased journalism, The Journal said.
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