CBS News Staffers Outraged

CBS News employees are reportedly seething with anger over the decision by their parent company, Paramount Global, to consider settling a $10 billion lawsuit brought by President Trump. The lawsuit stems from an allegedly biased "60 Minutes" segment featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris.

The newsroom at CBS has been thrown into turmoil since Paramount chairwoman Shari Redstone authorized negotiations with Trump's legal team regarding a potential settlement, according to reports from the Status newsletter.

Trump, during his campaign, initiated legal action in October, claiming that "60 Minutes" had edited the interview with Harris in a manner detrimental to his electoral prospects.

Sources within CBS News, including president Wendy McMahon and "60 Minutes" executive producer Bill Owens, have expressed firm opposition to any settlement, arguing that it could undermine press freedoms. Staffers are further incensed by the potential implications of such an agreement. 

Shari Redstone

Legal experts, like First Amendment attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr., have labeled the lawsuit as baseless, stating, “There is absolutely no reason, from a legal perspective, for CBS to settle — this is a ridiculous case.”

However, Shari Redstone, who inherited control of Paramount Global and National Amusements from her father Sumner Redstone, appears motivated to resolve the lawsuit swiftly. This move is speculated to be aimed at smoothing the path for regulatory approval of a merger with Skydance Media under Trump's administration, as per the New York Times. Redstone could significantly benefit financially from this merger.

Trump sued CBS last year for $10 billion and accused the network of deceptively editing the interview with Harris in a manner that benefited her candidacy. Many media law experts had dismissed the litigation as an idiosyncratic effort to punish a news outlet, and CBS called the lawsuit “completely without merit.”

But in the wake of Trump’s election, CBS’s parent company, Paramount, has begun settlement discussions with representatives of Mr. Trump, according to several people with knowledge of the talks. Many executives at Paramount believe that settling the suit could help pave the way for the FCC to approve Paramount’s planned multibillion-dollar merger with another company.