‘60’s’ Hardest Hour

When the meeting opened up for discussion, emotions spilled over. I’m told that correspondent Bill Whitaker spoke first and was quite somber, appearing teary-eyed as he spoke about the institution he loves. Lesley Stahl and Sharyn Alfonsi followed, voicing deep frustration and dismay that the company had capitulated to Trump, handing him millions to settle a lawsuit widely regarded across the legal community as absurd. Even CBS had characterized the lawsuit as “meritless” while fighting it in court. Yet, in the end, Redstone opted to settle—a move widely seen internally as a necessary precursor to clear regulatory hurdles for the merger with Larry and David Ellison’s Skydance.

Throughout the meeting, I’m told that Simon and Cibrowski sought to reassure the journalists that they will fight to ensure the program's editorial independence remains intact. They emphasized that there had been no interference from corporate in the closing stretch of the last season and, more importantly, that they would do their best to safeguard it going forward. The message was clear: while the business of television may be colliding with the realities of the Paramount-Skydance deal, the journalism at “60 Minutes” would continue, unbowed—so long as they are at the helm.

In raising the issue, Simon spoke directly to the fear weighing on her team’s minds, particularly after we broke news of Ellison courting Bari Weiss for a position of some kind at the network: "The concern is what happens next," one staffer on the newsmagazine told me. "Is this it? Or [does Skydance] say we are going to bring a new person in and start tinkering around with this show." If that does happen, the staffer added, "The institution could unravel."

That concern isn’t limited to the “60 Minutes” team. Across CBS News, staffers told me in various conversations on Wednesday that they had long accepted that a settlement with Trump was inevitable, given how openly it had been telegraphed. Many expressed relief that it was finally in the rearview mirror, even as they worried about what comes next. One on-air journalist said they had been “resigned to the fact” that the payout would happen, but now found themselves “anxiously looking ahead to the new owners.”

None of this absolves Redstone, who shamefully caved to pressure from Trump to secure her corporate merger and the payout that will come with it. The lawsuit was widely seen as absurd, but Redstone settled it anyway to smooth the path for the Skydance deal—following a playbook first written by Disney’s Bob Iger, who settled Trump’s lawsuit against ABC News late last year for the same sum. In both cases, Trump, as the sitting president, used the power of his office to pressure media companies into multimillion-dollar payouts while simultaneously blasting them as “fake news.” And in both cases, the media companies opted to acquiesce to his demands. Both sides of that coin are disturbing.

“A cold wind just blew through every newsroom this morning,” said Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. “Paramount may have closed this case, but it opened the door to the idea that the government should be the media’s editor-in-chief.”

The cost of the settlement extends well beyond the $16 million payout. It toppled the careers of CBS News President Wendy McMahon and “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens, who were both forced out in the months leading up to the settlement—despite the fact that the program had done nothing wrong. It has demoralized staff, bruised the brand of “60 Minutes,” and left many inside CBS News questioning whether the company’s editorial independence can withstand the pressures of a corporate deal and political pressure from the White House.

The saga may not be over. The Freedom of the Press Foundation indicated it is preparing legal action as a Paramount shareholder. In a Wednesday statement, the group said, "We are not done fighting. We’ve already filed a shareholder information demand and are sending a second demand today to uncover information about this decision. With that information, we will continue to pursue our legal options to stop this affront to Paramount shareholders, CBS reporters and the First Amendment. Paramount directors should be held accountable and we will do all we can to make that happen.”

The settlement has also drawn the ire of lawmakers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren described it as “bribery in plain sight,” calling for a probe and adding, “Paramount has refused to provide answers to a congressional inquiry, so I’m calling for a full investigation into whether or not any anti-bribery laws were broken.” Sen. Ron Wyden was even more direct: “Paramount just paid Trump a bribe for merger approval. When Democrats retake power, I’ll be first in line calling for federal charges. In the meantime, state prosecutors should make the corporate execs who sold out our democracy answer in court, today."

At Paramount’s annual shareholder meeting, George Cheeks, the co-chief executive who oversees CBS, defended the decision, telling investors: “Yes, the company has agreed in principle to settle the lawsuit, and as reported, it does not include an apology. Now as to the why? Look, companies often settle litigation to avoid the high and somewhat unpredictable cost of legal defense, the risk of an adverse judgment that could result in significant financial as well as reputational damage and the disruption to business operations that prolonged legal battles can cause."

In the end, though, Trump got what he wanted: a headline-grabbing payout from a legacy media institution, reinforcing his narrative of a dishonest press. A spokesperson for Trump declared that he is holding “the fake news media accountable” and that “CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle.” Of course, that's not at all what happened. But it's the narrative being pushed by Trump and his MAGA Media allies—and Redstone gave him plenty of dollars to fuel the fire and pay for his presidential museum, which will surely say the same.

Goodbye to G/O: G/O Media is going the way of the woolly mammoth. The one-time digital powerhouse, which once boasted some of the internet’s most popular publications, announced Wednesday it had sold its gaming site Kotaku to European publisher Keleops. That leaves only The Root in its portfolio, which G/O Media plans to sell as well. The death of G/O Media under chief executive Jim Spanfeller has been obvious for some time: over the past few years, it has unloaded its biggest titles, including The Onion, Deadspin, Jezebel, and others. Spanfeller said “it became clear to our investors that it was time to move on” from the digital media space, which has faced no shortage of challenges lately, from the cratering advertising market to the rapid rise of A.I.

► Over at Discourse Blog, Jack Crosbie published this piece: “Rest in Pieces, G/O Media.”

App-etite for Resistance: The Trump administration’s threats against CNN for reporting on an app that alerts users to nearby ICE activity have, unsurprisingly, backfired in spectacular fashion. After Kristi Noem accused the network of “obstruction of justice” and claimed she was working with the Justice Department “to see if we can prosecute them,” downloads of the app skyrocketed—so much so that it shot to the top of the App Store. CNN, for its part, has stood by its reporting, on account of that whole First Amendment thing in the Constitution.

► Free speech police: Fox News host Emily Compagno—ostensibly a trained lawyer—encouraged the Trump administration to go after CNN for reporting on the ICE app.

► The WSJ Editorial Board gets it right: “The President is using government to intimidate news outlets that publish stories he doesn’t like. It’s a low move in a free country with a free press.”

Chatbots Eat Traffic: The worst fears of publishers are starting to materialize as more people turn to chatbots for news and information instead of clicking through to news sites. According to a new report from SimilarWeb, the share of Google searches that end without any click-through to a news website has jumped from 56% to 69%. And despite referrals from ChatGPT on the rise, SimilarWeb noted that the growth isn’t nearly enough to offset the steep decline in traffic that publishers are losing. It all spells bad news for publishers as a once-reliable firehose of traffic begins to quickly dwindle.

A Handout for Hollywood: California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday signed a bill more than doubling the state’s film and television tax credit program to $750 million, handing a crucial lifeline to Hollywood’s industry in an effort to keep productions from fleeing the Golden State. “We’ve got to step up our game,” Newsom said. Lawmakers are still debating a separate bill that would expand tax credits to as much as 35% of production expenditures, up from the current 20% to 25%.

‘Diddy’ Dodges Life: It was largely a good day for Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering charges in one of the most closely watched music trials in recent memory. The disgraced mogul, however, was found guilty on prostitution charges, leaving him facing a maximum sentence of 20 years. And later in the day, the judge denied him bail, citing Combs’ history of violence against women. Still, Combs, who no longer faces a potential life sentence, thanked the jurors after the verdict was read, dropping to his knees in prayer as some in the courtroom applauded.