Paramount did maintain a small bit of dignity in its refusal to apologize to the president for the interview, which was one of his demands. The company did agree, however, to release transcripts of interviews with all presidential candidates after those interviews have aired.
While apologizing may have made it a tiny bit worse, settling was still seen by many as the less palatable option. Paramount’s own attorneys previously denounced the suit as a “meritless assault on the First Amendment,” with multiple legal experts opining that it would surely have been dismissed had it gone to court. Rumors of the settlement also led to significant internal tension within CBS’ ranks. High-ranking executives Bill Owens and Wendy McMahon both resigned in the months prior to today’s announcement, citing loss of journalistic independence. 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl also told The New Yorker Radio Hour that she was “beginning to think about mourning, grieving. But I’m holding out hope… I know there’s going to be a settlement. I know there’s going to be some money exchanged… And then we will hopefully still be around, turning a new page, and finding out what that new page is gonna look like.”
So why did Paramount capitulate? As 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley said on-air after Bill Owens’ departure, “Our parent company, Paramount, is trying to complete a merger. The Trump administration must approve it.” We’ll see if the settlement leads to FCC approval for that all-important merger with Skydance in the coming weeks and months.
In the meantime, the Writers Guild of America East has derided the settlement as a “transparent attempt to curry favors with an administration in the hopes it will allow Paramount Global and Skydance Media merger to be cleared for approval,” per a statement. “Paramount’s decision to capitulate to Trump threatens journalists’ ability to do their job reporting on powerful public figures.” We’ll also see if this settlement sets a precedent for how media bosses deal with Trump’s inevitable future suits moving forward.
