Paramount, the corporate owner of CBS, is considering settling a bogus lawsuit that Trump filed against the network over the Kamala Harris 60 Minutes interview.
Sen. Bernie Sanders is urging the network not to cave to Trump. In a post on X, Sanders wrote, “CBS may be reaching a legal settlement with Trump because he didn’t like how a campaign interview with Kamala was edited. Really? If CBS caves, the belief that we have an independent media protected by the First Amendment is undermined. CBS: stand tall. Support the Constitution.”
The Washington Post has already joined Trump’s media oligarchy. Disney started the media caving to Trump by settling his bogus defamation lawsuit against ABC News.
What Paramount is considering doing, in my opinion, seems like a legalized form of bribery.
There is no good reason, either in journalistic or First Amendment terms, for Paramount to settle the Trump lawsuit. The lawsuit has no merit, and since Donald Trump never wants to go to discovery in these matters, if CBS pushes it, Trump will back down.
Paramount’s reasoning for potentially settling the lawsuit has nothing to do with press freedom. They have a merger that will be up for review by the Trump administration, so the corporation is attempting to grease the wheels to make it easier for their merger to be approved.
If that sounds like corruption to you, it is because it is.
Big companies are writing big checks under the pretense of legal settlements so that they get better treatment, they hope, from the Trump administration.
CBS does need to stand tall. For the sake of the country and the free press, they can’t follow Disney’s lead.
Corporations don’t care about press freedom or the First Amendment, which is why corporate ownership of mainstream media has made America less informed.
What do you think about Sen. Sanders’s comments? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
