‘Spineless capitulation’: Massive backlash hits ’60 Minutes’ deal with Trump

https://www.rawstory.com/spineless-capitulation-massive-backlash-hits-60-minutes-deal-with-trump/

Posted by chrisdh79

18 comments

  1. From the article: The parent company of CBS News, Paramount Global, announced Tuesday that it has agreed to pay U.S. President Donald Trump $16 million to settle what legal experts called an entirely meritless lawsuit over the media organization’s handling of a pre-election “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris.

    The outrage hit almost instantly.

    Under the reported terms of the settlement, the money will go toward Trump’s legal fees and his future presidential library. Paramount said the settlement deal does not include a formal apology, but the company agreed to release written transcripts of future “60 Minutes” interviews with presidential candidates.

    Critics responded with outrage to news of the settlement, which one observer characterized as “spineless capitulation to extortion.” Some posted screenshots to social media showing they canceled their Paramount+ subscriptions in response.

    As Paramount engaged in talks with Trump’s legal team over the lawsuit in recent weeks, press freedom advocates and members of Congress implored the organization not to settle, warning that caving to the president would reward and embolden his attacks on media outlets he views as his political enemies.

    “If you settle cases, you’re going to send a message to your news team to not push the envelope for fear of people being sued,” media attorney Edward Klaris told The Washington Post, “and you’re going to court more cases against your company because they might think that if they sue you they’re going to collect.”

  2. They made it clear they don’t want my business ever fucking again.

  4. Stop watching cbs, cancel paramount plus if you have it and send emails to both letting them know your outrage.

  5. The Neville Chamberlin of the media world. Way to bend over, boys.

  7. The more you read, the worse it gets:

    > Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, supported a settlement with Trump in the hope that it would “clear the way” for federal approval of the company’s merger with the entertainment company Skydance, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources familiar with the internal discussions. Bloomberg reported that Redstone could reap $180 million in “severance and other benefits on top of hundreds of >millions from the sale of her stock” if the merger goes through.

    >In May, the Freedom of the Press Foundation—a Paramount shareholder—cautioned that a settlement with Trump “could amount to a bribe” to the Trump administration in exchange for approval of the merger. The advocacy group said it would sue Paramount if the company caved to the president, arguing that “a settlement of Trump’s meritless lawsuit may well be a >thinly veiled effort to launder bribes through the court system.” 

  8. I hope Hell, for the CBS execs and everyone else involved, is a giant TV playing nothing but non-stop Walter Cronkite newscasts.

  9. I can not believe that they fucking caved. How the hell are we going to fix America if they keep rolling over for the orange Jesus

  10. Well it’s yet another indicator that our democracy is dead.

  12. I’LL NEVER WATCH 60 MINUTES EVER AGAIN.
    LIFE LONG VIEWER –
    SOLD YOUR SOUL & INTEGRITY..

    FOR WHAT ?

    HIM ?

  13. 60 minuted should retire at this point.
    Trump ownes you.
    You are no longer trusted or/Impartial.
    FAKE NEWS..

  14. The problem with proceeding to arbitration or trial is that it is precedent setting.

    Many companies would rather spend more settling than they’d have to pay if ruled against to avoid setting a precedent.

    An example local to me (not US) is paid-parking companies — they refuse to take challenges to parking fines to court because if the fined person in the right circumstance wins, there goes the business model.

    A media company may not be interested in giving Trump the legal precedent he’s looking to set.

    That is to say the risk:reward ratio in this case may have been unacceptable to them despite the strength of their case.

  15. When you give in to vile despicable behaviour you encourage MORE FUTURE VILE DESPICABLE BEHAVIOUR.

  16. Putin said they would all bow to their new master Trump and they are because the only thing in the west that matters is money, so they all bow down to keep the flow of money going.

  18. Don’t want to upset daddy, so pay him whatever. Winning!

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