CBS considers caving on Trump censorship lawsuit to save Paramount mergerCBS considers caving on Trump censorship lawsuit to save Paramount merger / Trumps incoming FCC chairman Brendan Carr reportedly warned Paramount execs about Trumps dissatisfaction with CBS News in regards to their Skydance merger.By Richard Lawler, a senior editor following news across tech, culture, policy, and entertainment. He joined The Verge in 2021 after several years covering news at Engadget. Jan 18, 2025, 1:31 AM UTCShare this story Image: ParamountA law professor cited by CBS News called Donald Trumps $10 billion lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris ...so ill grounded that it comes close to being sanctionable as frivolous. But now, the The Wall Street Journal reports that executives at CBS parent company, Paramount Global, have discussed settling the suit while gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration ahead of a government review of its merger with Skydance. The paper reports that incoming FCC chairman and censor-in-chief Brendan Carr warned execs last year that presidential dissatisfaction with CBS News will make a review tougher. Hes also publicly displayed that view, saying during a Fox News interview in November, ...CBS has a transaction before the FCC. Im pretty confident that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that is likely to arise in the context of the FCCs review of that transaction. RelatedThe lawsuit claims that in airing two differently edited versions of Harris response to a question about the war in Gaza, CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news. But instead of mounting a defense of free speech against a lawsuit and Trumps accusations that the network said were false and completely without merit, Paramount is considering following the example of Disney and tech oligarchs who will line up at the inauguration like Mark Zuckerberg. The ABC News owner agreed to pay $15 million to Trumps presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit in December. Zuckerberg sharply redirected Metas policies to the right while meeting with Trump, reportedly in part to mediate a lawsuit Trump brought against Facebook and Zuckerberg in 2021 over the platforms suspension of Trumps account after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Most PopularMost Popular