Sen. Elizabeth Warren has called on Paramound and Skydance to respond to questions about the details of a $36 million settlement agreement w
Freedom of speech is one thing, and obviously important. A media that is free to say what it wants (subject to defamation laws). But my problem is that this looks like a bribe, a payment to trump in exchange for his directing the FCC to approve the merger. That is raw criminal behavior, reflecting mafia-type tactics.
Excerpt from this story from Rolling Stone:
On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that Paramount and CBS News had agreed to settle a lawsuit he brought against them for way more money than originally reported.
“Paramount/CBS/60 Minutes have today paid $16 Million Dollars in settlement, and we also anticipate receiving $20 Million Dollars more from the new Owners, in Advertising, PSAs, or similar Programming, for a total of over $36 Million Dollars,” Trump wrote. “This is another in a long line of VICTORIES over the Fake News Media, who we are holding to account for their widespread fraud and deceit.”
In May, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) sent a letter to Shari Redstone, the chair of Paramount Global, raising questions about the lawsuit and its potential influence on a planned merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. A similar letter was sent to Skydance CEO David Ellison on Monday, expressing concerns that a seperate side deal involving Skydance and the Trump administration had been attatched to the P:aramolunt settlement. The merger’s approval has for months been caught in Federal Communications Commission purgatory, only seeming to regain momentum following the settlement earlier this month, and CBS News’ decision last week to ax the late night show of longtime Trump critic Stephen Colbert.
“People settle lawsuits all the time, but obviously there’s a problem when they’re seeking a favor and offering millions of dollars directly to the person who can grant the favor,” Warren told Rolling Stone on Wednesday. “It’s all happening right out in public for people to see, and that’s why it is so important to connect the dots and do two things: One is to call it out while the deal is still forming, so that all the parties understand that they may be subject to criminal laws. The second reason to call it out is that we have to speak out to preserve a free and independent press.”
