Reports claim that CBS News parent company Paramount Global is in "detailed discussions" with President Donald Trump to settle his election interference lawsuit over a deceptively edited interview with Democrat rival Kamala Harris last fall.
Deadline appears to have broken the story, or at least gives that impressive by putting "we can confirm" in the first sentence. The New York Times actually broke it. The Deadline report also frames the story to give the impression that CBS News did nothing wrong, that Trump is abusing a Texas law to get his way, and that Paramount Global is merely trying to win Trump's favor due to regulatory concerns.
Before even before getting to the facts of the case, Deadline's Ted Johnson and Dominic Patten wrote, "Any settlement would be a highly conciliatory gesture to Trump. He was not even part of the 60 Minutes piece, but he sued the network for $10 billion under Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which is generally aimed at false advertising."
Well, let's take a look at the videotape, as GenX and Boomers used to say:
BREAKING: CBS News is now in settlement talks with President Trump to pay for the election interference they committed when they deceptively edited Kamala Harris's interview to make her look good.
— George (@BehizyTweets) January 31, 2025
They will pay MILLIONS!
Trump can't stop winning.
pic.twitter.com/auardejZYn
Now maybe there is some truth to Paramount's regulatory concerns. But it's also true that "60 Minutes" put Harris in the best possible light, eliminating the infamous word salads that had become a running joke. Arguably, Harris had a well-earned reputation for avoiding the press. "Even supporters of the Democratic candidate for president Kamala Harris have complained that the current vice president remains a mystery to broad swaths of the country," is how Vanity Fair put it on the eve of the "60 Minutes" broadcast.
"But all that changes this week, as Harris is launching into a set of sit-downs and interviews at the national level, presumably in an effort to—as Democratic strategist James Carville recently put it——win the news cycle."
And judging by that video you saw above, "60 Minutes" was happy to help. Not to simply report but to help.
It's also true that the Legacy Complicit Media has never been seen in a more negative light. Just one week after that "60 Minutes" puff piece, Pew Research reported that trust in the media is at an all-time low. For good reason, too. CNN just had to pay $5 million after a jury found Jake Tapper & Co. liable for defamation against U.S. Navy vet Zachary Young. And ABC News settled with Trump last month — $16 million, mostly going to the Trump presidential library! — after anchor George Stephanopoulos repeatedly lied about a civil court verdict against Trump. Facebook parent Meta, while not a traditional media company, just settled with Trump for $25 million for suspending his accounts.
Deadline either left all that out or buried it at the bottom of the story. They also — unlike Yours Truly — didn't show you the edited and unedited video so you could decide for yourself.
Let me be perfectly clear, to borrow a phrase from the man who did more than any other single person to put this country on the terrible course that Trump and his team are trying to correct. I don't want the press to be any nicer to Trump or any meaner to Democrats. Journalism — which today's activists-wearing-journalism's-skinsuit have turned into a dirty word — isn't supposed to be about being nice or being mean to one side or the other.
They're simply supposed to be honest. Investigate. Report. Let the chips fall where they may. If they have an agenda, that's fine, too — so long as they're honest about it.
Despite what a (very) few commenters have accused me of over the years, I'm neither a journalist nor a reporter. I'm an opinion writer. I wear my agenda on my sleeve. In really big letters. Boldfaced and italicized.
You're welcome.
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