On October 7 of last year, CBS News aired an edited "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, the replacement Democratic nominee. Her answers, including and especially on Israel, were so bad that the network had to edit her response, though they tried to dance around the issue once they were caught. President Donald Trump sued, and there may be a new update as Paramount Global, the parent company, is reportedly looking to settle. This follows news earlier this month that they were looking to settle.
Remember Kamala’s word salad answer about Israel on 60 Minutes? It’s gone.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) October 8, 2024
This is what many Americans will now see. pic.twitter.com/H4w7btDv6x
What makes such an update, which has become a trend over X, even more rich, is how The New York Times began their coverage, though they also caution the settlement may not actually happen. That being said, the controlling shareholder is described as being in support:
When Donald J. Trump sued CBS for $10 billion days before the 2024 election, accusing the company of deceptively editing a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, many legal experts dismissed the litigation as a far-fetched attempt to punish an out-of-favor news outlet.
Now Mr. Trump is back in the White House, and many executives at CBS’s parent company, Paramount, believe that settling the lawsuit would increase the odds that the Trump administration does not block or delay their planned multibillion-dollar merger with another company, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.
Settlement discussions between representatives of Paramount and Mr. Trump are now underway, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. There is no assurance, though, that they will result in a deal, and it is unclear what the terms of any such deal might include.
Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, strongly supports the effort to settle, according to two people with knowledge of her thinking. Ms. Redstone stands to clear billions of dollars on the sale of Paramount, the media empire founded by her father Sumner Redstone, in a deal with Skydance, an entertainment company backed by the billionaire Larry Ellison and run by his son David.
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The article, "Paramount in Settlement Talks With Trump Over ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit," also had a fitting subheadline as well: "A settlement, if reached, would be an extraordinary concession by a major U.S. media company to a sitting president."
This is also discussed in the article itself as well, though of course it comes off as pitying the network and raises concerns about how journalists may be in an uproar. Even as the article goes after Trump throughout with a onesided view about "60 Minutes" interviews, it still paints the network as being in disarray of sorts:
A settlement would be an extraordinary concession by a major U.S. media company to a sitting president, especially in a case in which there is no evidence that the network got facts wrong or damaged the plaintiff’s reputation.
It could also cause an uproar within CBS News and among the “60 Minutes” staff. Journalists at the network have expressed deep concern about the notion of their parent company settling litigation that they consider tantamount to a politician’s standard-issue gripes about a news organization’s editorial judgment, according to several people familiar with internal discussions.
...
In recent months, “60 Minutes” has also faced scrutiny from Ms. Redstone herself, who complained to CBS executives about a story featuring State Department employees who expressed misgivings about the Biden administration’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to two people familiar with the matter. One day after the segment aired, CBS News installed a longtime producer, Susan Zirinsky, as an interim executive editor overseeing journalistic standards and practices.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Paramount executives were discussing a possible settlement internally. If the company reaches such a deal, it would be at least the third major company in recent weeks to settle a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump.
We've seen this all before, first when it comes to how this is not the first settlement in favor of Trump, as the article acknowledges. That's not just with networks like ABC News and Meta having to settle with the now-president, though, but also the outrage from those involved as well as the mainstream media overall.
Last month, Trump achieved a major win before he even took office, as ABC News settled for $15 million after George Stephanopoulos insisted during an episode of "This Week" that Trump had been found "liable for rape." Not only was this not the case, but Stephanopoulos had been reportedly warned not to make such a claim. Earlier this week, Meta also agreed to a $25 million settlement after Trump sued after he was suspended from Facebook and Instagram in 2021.
If this settlement does go through, it looks to be another major win for Trump and another loss for his detractors in mainstream media.
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