CBS to settle Trump 10 Billion Suit?

CBS owner considers settling Trump suit over Kamala Harris’ ‘60 Minutes’ interview where the network clipped out her word salad answer, and edited it to make her look good which yes folks this is CLEAR election interference. The owners or Global Executives and parent company "Paramount" have held internal talks about settling the lawsuit filed by President-elect Donald Trump.

Paramount, is hoping to close its planned merger with Skydance Media in the coming months but has been sued by Trump for allegedly favorably editing the “60 Minutes” sit-down with Harris just before the election. Now post election with Trump coming out the winner and soon as in the next 24 hours will reclaim his place as the President of the country it's become clear that Trump’s dissatisfaction with CBS News is proving to be a major hurdle he plans on seeing all the way through. Some say he will likely need to pony up concessions to win approval, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The Post had previously reported that the deal will likely remain in regulatory purgatory for the foreseeable future under Trump-nominated FCC chair Brendan Carr, unless it satisfies certain “fairness” conditions that will be demanded by Trump’s FCC. The FCC has authority over the deal because it would involve the transfer of broadcast TV licenses held by local CBS-owned stations. The Journal said there was no indication that Paramount had approached Trump’s team about a settlement, but executives at the company were gaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration in order to facilitate the merger. A rep for Trump did not immediately comment on whether Paramount had contacted the President-elect’s team.

One source told The Post that the talks have been described as “informal,” meaning there have been no presentations or formal plans devised. Reps for Paramount and Skydance did not comment. At issue is Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against CBS, which alleges that the network committed election interference by editing portions of the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris to eliminate a “word salad” answer about the Israel-Hamas war.

Trump claimed CBS aired one version of the interview on “60 Minutes” and another version on its show “Face the Nation,” each containing different answers, and demanded the network release the transcript of the taped interview. CBS has said it aired a more succinct version of Harris’s interview on “60 Minutes” for clarity. It has refused to release a full transcript of the interview. Reports of settlement talks follow a capitulation by rival ABC News in a defamation suit brought by Trump.

He sued the Disney-owned network and star anchor George Stephanopoulos over comments the “This Week” host made on air stating that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. A federal jury determined Trump was liable for sexual abuse. Last month, Disney settled the defamation lawsuit, agreeing to contribute $15 million to Trump’s presidential foundation or museum and to pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s lawyer. Recently, Carr wrote a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, ripping national news media, saying: “Americans no longer trust the national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly.”

His thinking extends to CBS’ coverage, as well. As a result, Paramount and Skydance execs have considered a number of possible changes, such as bringing in more oversight over CBS News editorial operations, adding new processes around programming and possibly releasing the transcript of its “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, The Journal reported. This week, CBS News announced that it appointed veteran CBS News producer Susan Zirinsky as executive editor to oversee the network’s editorial process and journalistic standards on an interim basis amid allegations of bias. The network is currently looking for a permanent hire and has reached out to several cable news execs for the role, a source said.

The move follows a handful of missteps by the network, including its most recent flap over a Jan. 12 segment on “60 Minutes” about the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza. The segment triggered concerns over bias at the news division. Jewish organizations and the Anti-Defamation League ripped the episode for being slanted against Israel. Executives internally raised questions about why more context wasn’t added to the piece to make it more balanced, The Journal reported.

Meanwhile, Skydance, which is run by David Ellison the son of billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a Trump booster is itching to close the $8 billion Paramount deal, which has painstakingly taken months to hammer out with controlling shareholder Shari Redstone, who also has a good relationship with Trump.

Under the terms of the deal, Skydance and its investors agreed buy out Redstone’s Paramount stake and merge it with Skydance, which as produced films for the studio that include the latest “Mission: Impossible” sequels and “Top Gun: Maverick.” A person close to Skydance said David Ellison would support measures to promote unbiased journalism, The Journal said.

CNN to Exile Jim Acosta to "Siberia of television news"

So it's being labeled as "CNN" wanting to exile Jim Acosta’s show to the ‘Siberia of television news’ to stop him annoying Trump? Apparently plotting to exile anchor Jim Acosta longtime antagonist of President-elect Donald Trump to the “Siberia of television news” in a bid to “throw a bone” to the incoming commander-in-chief, according to reports. The network’s boss, Mark Thompson, this week called in Acosta to propose shifting his show, “CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta,” from 10 a.m. to the graveyard midnight slot, ex-CNN senior media reporter Oliver Darcy reported in his Status News newsletter.

“The move would effectively exile Acosta to the Siberia of television news,” Darcy wrote. Acosta was caught “off guard,” Darcy said with the anchor later using his airtime for some self-promotion to send a message to Trump to go easier on journalists. Well Jim how about this time around you stop lying, and gas lighting b/s rumors created by the liberals? How about actually reporting some non biased news there? “He had no reason to believe that his current show would be on the chopping block. In fact, his ratings have been some of the network’s strongest,” Darcy pointed out.

The move was to accommodate moving veteran anchor Wolf Blitzer from prime time evenings to a morning show when asked by Acosta was told to move to midnight but the claim was it had nothing to do with his 'ratings or editorial style', Darcy said. However, most sources pinned the move on preparations for Trump’s return to office given Acosta’s infamously testy relationship with the previous time Trump was in office who famously branded the anchor “a rude, terrible person.” Knowing his work, and family for many decades folks I can tell you that Jim is, and has always been a very "Rude, A-Hole" but this is just from personal info but as the story goes here it was also claimed “They want to get rid of Acosta to throw a bone to Trump,” an unnamed media executive told the newsletter.

“Midnight is not a serious offer when his ratings are among the best on the network.” Acosta was a CNN White House correspondent during the first Trump administration and had numerous confrontations, leading to him losing his press pass after one petty exchange with the then-president at a 2018 press conference. “CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them,” Trump told Acosta at the time. It wasn’t immediately clear if Acosta was considering the midnight show offer. A CNN Spokesperson declined to comment on the reports.

The news emerged, though, as Acosta used his Thursday show to throw shade at Trump and crow about the importance of the media just days out from the inauguration. Like the usual little communist he is. Jim isn't going to stop and CNN if you want to save face it's time you remove these toxic liars, and con artist from your network. 

Starting with Jim is a good start.