Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission released its Order formally approving the proposed $8 billion Paramount Global/Skydance Media merger.
The FCC’s Order imposes unprecedented merger conditions, including a commitment to maintain an ombudsman for two years, reporting directly to the President of New Paramount, who will review and report complaints of bias or concerns regarding CBS’s news programming. The merger approval also comes with an explicit agreement that the new entity will not engage in any diversity, equity, and inclusion practices.
The merger approval follows Paramount Global’s agreement to pay $16 million to President Trump’s library fund to settle his lawsuit over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Public Knowledge argues that this merger approval marks another example of President Trump weaponizing his immense influence to shape the free press to his liking – at the expense of our First Amendment rights.
The following can be attributed to Morgan Wilsmann, Policy Analyst at Public Knowledge:
“President Trump made no secret that he knew his frivolous lawsuit against CBS, over its First Amendment-protected editorial discretion in its ‘60 Minutes’ interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, would need to be settled before the FCC approved this merger. His very statement that Skydance has agreed to run over $20 million in advertisements to promote causes supported by President Trump proves that the lawsuit was always intended to pressure a media company he dislikes into falling in line.
“It is curious that FCC Chairman Carr’s strategy for ‘the process of earning back Americans’ trust’ in news media involves demanding ‘viewpoint diversity’ in the spirit of the Fairness Doctrine – a policy eliminated by the Reagan administration due to First Amendment concerns that the doctrine constituted government interference in editorial decision-making.
“We share Commissioner Anna Gomez’s concerns over the ‘never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment.’ This includes the installation of an ombudsman charged with evaluating complaints of bias and advising the President of New Paramount. We hope that the ombudsman will field bias complaints across the political spectrum, and act independently from government influence.
“However, despite its conditions having been met, the FCC did not close out the news distortion complaint against CBS from the Center for American Rights – essentially putting a sword of Damocles over the news division’s head in exchange for the deal. Even so, we also hope that, following this merger, the new company will uphold the principles of a free press and editorial independence, and will stand in the face of continued pressure from President Trump and his loyalists.
“We are pleased to see that, among the merger agreements, is the investment in and dedication to local news, strengthening affiliated broadcast stations’ capacity to serve their communities. However, the win for local news may be one bright spot in an otherwise bleak picture.”
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.