After settling with Trump, CBS News staffers fear what comes next

CNN
 — 

Paramount Global is being hammered for bowing to presidential pressure and settling a lawsuit that it likely could have beaten in court.

But this convoluted episode is really more about the plaintiff, President Trump, than about Paramount.

“It is odd to call this a ‘settlement’ when the result of it is so unsettling,” veteran journalism professor Al Tompkins remarked.

Employees at CBS News, which produces “60 Minutes,” feel the same way. “There is great fear about what comes next,” a CBS News staffer told CNN on condition of anonymity.

Even though Trump’s “60 Minutes” lawsuit is now history, his bullying tactics will continue to challenge media companies for the foreseeable future.

“Behavior that gets rewarded gets repeated,” the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said Wednesday. “This settlement will only embolden the president to continue his flurry of baseless lawsuits against the press — and against the American people’s ability to hear the news free from government intrusion.”

For newsrooms and other organizations targeted by Trump, the question becomes, fight or fold? One follow-up question might be: How do audiences react to outlets that fold?

When Trump first sued CBS last fall, Rebecca Tushnet, the Frank Stanton professor of First Amendment law at Harvard Law School, told CNN the suit was “ridiculous junk and should be mocked.”

Tushnet – whose professional home is under multifaceted assault by the Trump administration – said in a follow-up exchange on Wednesday that Paramount’s decision to settle was disappointing.

“The individual incentive in a budding authoritarian state is always to capitulate; that’s the point of imposing costs on speech,” she said. “It’s disappointing that so many of our institutions are folding especially when individual citizens can see very clearly the dangers of this path.”

Some CBS staffers have expressed similar views. Former CBS News correspondent Armen Keteyian echoed current staffers when he wrote on X, “This Paramount settlement is the nadir for the network — a breach of the public trust Murrow, Cronkite, Hewitt and thousands of us worked decades to build.”

Democratic lawmakers also heaped criticism on Paramount for settling; Sen. Elizabeth Warren said “this looks like bribery in plain sight,” and Sen. Ron Wyden condemned the “corporate execs who sold out our democracy,” promising action “when Democrats retake power.”

The bribery allegation stems from the fact that Paramount is trying to get the Trump administration to approve its pending merger with Skydance Media. Paramount insists that the settlement is not related to the FCC merger review process.

Trump, however, recently spoke about the “60 Minutes” lawsuit and the merger hold-up as if they were self-evidently connected.

When a reporter asked Trump what was holding up the merger on June 18, Trump answered by praising Skydance CEO David Ellison, then immediately repeated his talking points about the lawsuit. “They’re working on a settlement now,” he said.

According to the terms of the settlement, which were announced late Tuesday night, Trump will drop the suit in exchange for $16 million toward his presidential library. The financial terms mirror the deal that Disney’s ABC struck with Trump last December.

“Trump’s presidential library will be a permanent monument to Paramount’s surrender,” remarked Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

Other press freedom advocates called the CBS parent’s decision a “spineless” and “shameful” capitulation.

Veteran media reporter Paul Farhi said on X that it was “fascinating how Paramount has borne the bulk of the criticism for agreeing to this payoff. As if Trump is a passive bystander who played no role.”

The conservative editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, controlled by Rupert Murdoch, focused on Trump’s conduct in a sharply critical piece on Wednesday night.

“The President is using government to intimidate news outlets that publish stories he doesn’t like,” the Journal wrote. “It’s a low move in a free country with a free press.”

Trump, who on Wednesday was focused on his sweeping agenda bill, has yet to personally weigh in on the Paramount settlement. But a spokesman for his legal team cast the deal as an example of him holding “the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit.”

The supposed “wrongdoing” in this case, however, was just an edit to a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris last fall.

Trump seized on the clunky editing of one particular question and answer, but TV networks edit interviews all the time, and those editorial decisions are protected under the First Amendment.

One takeaway for journalists is to be “transparent about how you do what you do,” Tompkins said.

CBS resisted calls to release the full transcript of the Harris interview last fall, but eventually shared the transcript and tapes amid mounting political pressure.

The tapes reaffirmed that Trump had a weak legal case. But the lawsuit gave him leverage over Paramount — and potentially Skydance, the CBS-owner-in-waiting, as well.

David Ellison, son of the billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, was seen schmoozing near Trump at two different UFC matches earlier this year, stoking speculation that he was leaning on personal relationships to help get the merger approved.

On Wednesday, Paramount pushed back on a New York Post report about a “side deal” between Ellison and Trump involving TV airtime for public service announcements promoting Trump-aligned causes.

“Paramount has no knowledge of any promises or commitments made to President Trump other than those set forth in the settlement proposed by the mediator and accepted by the parties,” the company said.

A spokesperson for Ellison had no comment on the matter, and there is no evidence of any such deal.

But the report only intensified questions inside CBS News about how Ellison might approach owning the news division in the future.

While journalists at “60 Minutes” and across CBS News are concerned about the situation, they ultimately want to move on and continue doing their jobs.

“This settlement is not a reflection on the essential and bold work of 60 Minutes of CBS,” Tompkins told CNN. “It is a reflection of a vindictive president and corporate heads who did not value one of the fundamental principles that underpin the ownership of a news organization.”

“That principle,” he said, “is stated as the second tenant of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics: Act Independently.”