• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

“Varied Ideological Perspectives”: a new goal promised for CBS under Skydance

Trump made it harder for CBS to do that a few hours ago:

Actually in point of fact, every media organization, including Fox News, the NY Post, and OANN, reported the $16 million figure.

 
Actually in point of fact, every media organization, including Fox News, the NY Post, and OANN, reported the $16 million figure.


Yes, but....Trump says it's $36 million (including a $20 million contribution of advertising/PSA time).

That's what was in the link ("Trump Makes Shocking Claim His Paramount Settlement Is..."). The part that got cut off in the preview was "Actually for $36 Million", but I was counting on curiosity to drive the click-through.

And that dovetails with Oliver Darcy's piece in Status that the three CEOs normally allowed to limit settlements got neutered:

 
Yes, but....Trump says it's $36 million (including a $20 million contribution of advertising/PSA time).

I saw that. He can believe whatever he wants to believe. But the media can only report a substantiated figure, and that is $16 million.

It's kind of the same thing with the law firms. The reporting says there's a dollar amount of pro-bono work. But how that gets calculated is mushy.

Some of these companies carry insurance for these kinds of lawsuits.
 
I saw that. He can believe whatever he wants to believe. But the media can only report a substantiated figure, and that is $16 million.

It's kind of the same thing with the law firms. The reporting says there's a dollar amount of pro-bono work. But how that gets calculated is mushy.

Some of these companies carry insurance for these kinds of lawsuits.
Gary Trudeau had an amusing take on that in Doonesbury a few weeks ago, where one of the lawyer characters ("Ginny") made mention of a "Golden Billable Hour" of $50 Million per on Trump's $100 Million shakedown of the big law firms. Two golden hours of billable time and Mafia Don's shot his wad.
 
I saw that. He can believe whatever he wants to believe. But the media can only report a substantiated figure, and that is $16 million.

Right. Which is why Paramount needs to issue a statement and the media needs to cover a new story: Is the president telling the truth about the CBS settlement? Did Paramount downplay an amount that was shocking to many at the lower figure?

Meantime, what I wrote:

Screenshot 2025-07-22 at 3.13.04 PM (1).jpeg

...is accurate, is what I meant to write, and unless Paramount can figure out how to say "The president is a lying sack" without another lawsuit, they'll be open to question as to how transparent they've been about the settlement.
 
...is accurate, is what I meant to write, and unless Paramount can figure out how to say "The president is a lying sack" without another lawsuit, they'll be open to question as to how transparent they've been about the settlement.

To me, the right way to handle it is let him say what he wants to say. Responding to this president is a waste of time.

There is no press release of any sort on the subject at the Paramount Global site

They have no obligation to be "transparent" about a private legal settlement.

The main thing journalistically is they didn't apologize and don't have to change their editorial process.
 
To me, the right way to handle it is let him say what he wants to say. Responding to this president is a waste of time.

I do not want to get into another several hours of back and forth with you on....anything. Ever again.

But you do realize that you're advocating a publicly-traded company not being transparent about the difference between a $16 million and a $36 million settlement with the President of the United States (leaving personalities and veracity of the man in the office out of it)?
 
But you do realize that you're advocating a publicly-traded company not being transparent about the difference between a $16 million and a $36 million settlement with the President of the United States (leaving personalities and veracity of the man in the office out of it)?

I don't recall how transparent Fox was in their settlement with Dominion.

My recollection is they did what the agreement required and then moved on.
 
Today's Deadline piece on the filing notes that last Wednesday (7/16), Trump had said there was an additional $16 million in advertising that was part of the deal. Paramount Global denied that.

Today, Trump says it's $20 million "from the new owners", so that's Skydance. If it's true. But he says it's "part of the legal settlement", which would mean Paramount would have knowledge of any such provision. Today, Skydance declined comment.


Regardless, it would (in my view, your mileage may vary, professional driver on closed course, known as Hellman's east of the Rockies) make any attempt to shut down 60 Minutes much harder for whoever owns CBS to do without the perception that they'll do literally anything to keep Trump happy.

Which is what I said in the first place 90 minutes and a couple hundred words ago.
 
Last edited:
How often do you hear the Chairman of the FCC making a statement like this:


“The partisan left’s ritualist wailing and gnashing of teeth over Colbert is quite revealing,” Carr tweeted. “They’re acting like they’re losing a loyal DNC spokesperson that was entitled to an exemption from the laws of economics.”

I thought entertainers were allowed to be partisan. That's how they justify Sean Hannity. He's not a journalist. He's an entertainer.

When Tucker Carlson got fired, people on the right were pretty upset. Like they lost a loyal spokesman.

Of course Carr is all who remains in the way of closing the Paramount sale.
 
How often do you hear the Chairman of the FCC making a statement like this:

Carr's total debasement of the FCC chairman position is continuing unimpeded. I'm only surprised it took him this long.
 
Today's Deadline piece on the filing notes that last Wednesday (7/16), Trump had said there was an additional $16 million in advertising that was part of the deal. Paramount Global denied that.

Today, Trump says it's $20 million "from the new owners", so that's Skydance. If it's true. But he says it's "part of the legal settlement", which would mean Paramount would have knowledge of any such provision. Today, Skydance declined comment.


Regardless, it would (in my view, your mileage may vary, professional driver on closed course, known as Hellman's east of the Rockies) make any attempt to shut down 60 Minutes much harder for whoever owns CBS to do without the perception that they'll do literally anything to keep Trump happy.

Which is what I said in the first place 90 minutes and a couple hundred words ago.
It’s crazier than we think because we now have to not just deal with this fallout between the White House and Paramount. Now there’s a new lawsuit between the White House and Wall Street Journal that lead to that media outlet being banned from the White House Press Pool in the same way AP and Reuters were banned from the Press pool. We will not hear the final answer to the Paramount deal with Skydance because other media outlets got sued by the White House over similar stuff. Every media outlet can argue 1st Amendment but it’s going to end in all sorts of stuff in the verdicts.

 
What we're really watching here is a new TV reality show. You remember The Apprentice or Celebrity Apprentice?

This is Government Apprentice. Think of Brendan Carr as one of the contestants. He's trying not to get fired.
If only there was a Kerry Packer furiously calling the control room…
 
It’s crazier than we think because we now have to not just deal with this fallout between the White House and Paramount. Now there’s a new lawsuit between the White House and Wall Street Journal that lead to that media outlet being banned from the White House Press Pool in the same way AP and Reuters were banned from the Press pool. We will not hear the final answer to the Paramount deal with Skydance because other media outlets got sued by the White House over similar stuff. Every media outlet can argue 1st Amendment but it’s going to end in all sorts of stuff in the verdicts.

Trump doesn’t want to go up against Murdock.
 
Trump doesn’t want to go up against Murdoch.
True and yes this latest White House Lawsuit will end in Trump violating the first amendment as in all of them.


The difference here is that the Murdochs not only has to deal with the Epstein Story that they are being sued for at the Wall Street Journal they have to deal with this one Trump's streaming deal with Newsmax. In this case the Murdochs is not too dependent on Trump as we seen here in this one example. We mentioned others where one of the Murdochs media brands have said things not exactly Trump friendly over the years not just because they sometimes are truthful in those cases but also understanding their weak points like being too dependent on Trump would kill off their business model somewhere down the line at News Corp and Fox Inc.
 
Last edited:
True and yes this latest White House Lawsuit will end in Trump violating the first amendment as in all of them.


The difference here is that the Murdochs not only has to deal with the Epstein Story that they are being sued for at the Wall Street Journal they have to deal with this one Trump's streaming deal with Newsmax. In this case the Murdochs is not too dependent on Trump as we seen here in this one example. We mentioned others where one of the Murdochs media brands have said things not exactly Trump friendly over the years not just because they sometimes are truthful in those cases but also understanding their weak points like being too dependent on Trump would kill off their business model somewhere down the line at News Corp and Fox Inc.
Murdock is looking long term. If the WSJ has accurate reporting they have no problem going for discovery. Trump doesn’t want that and will settle.
 


Back
Top Bottom