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The Art of the Kneel

If a settlement deal is inked with Donald Trump, Shari Redstone will be remembered as the mogul who sold out "60 Minutes.”

Author

Oliver Darcy
January 30, 2025

Shari Redstone. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The journalists at CBS News are livid at Paramount Global boss Shari Redstone over the company's move to engage in settlement talks with Donald Trump.

Paramount, which is trying to complete a merger with David Ellison's Skydance Media, is now in active discussions with the Trump team to strike a settlement that would put an end to an absurd lawsuit the then-candidate filed against the news network, as first reported by The New York Times Thursday evening. Trump filed the lawsuit in October over a "60 Minutes" interview with Kamala Harris, preposterously alleging that the newsmagazine program engaged in "deceitful" editing that disadvantaged him in the race.

Most legal experts swiftly dismissed Trump's lawsuit as nothing more than a naked attempt to bully the news network. That is still the overwhelming position of the legal community. As the well-respected First Amendment attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr. told me Thursday evening, "There is absolutely no reason, from a legal perspective, for CBS to settle — this is a ridiculous case."

Indeed, I'm told that the top executives at CBS News also believe the case is groundless. CBS News said in October that Trump's claims "are false" and "completely without merit." And, in private conversations, I'm told that CBS News chief Wendy McMahon and "60 Minutes" boss Bill Owens have…

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The Information Wars

Laura Ingraham. (Screen grab via Snapstream)

Status Scoop | Fox’s DEI-nial: Sean Hannity remarked on Thursday that the plane crash at DCA highlighted “why D.E.I. can be dangerous.” Jesse Watters chimed in, blaming air traffic control’s inability to meet their “D.E.I. quotas” for staffing shortages. Laura Ingraham jumped in as well, declaring that “all that nonsense [about] diversity has to go.” The narrative continued with Fox News’ top personalities using the tragic event to link D.E.I. to every problem imaginable — all while echoing the rhetoric of Donald Trump and ignoring that fact that actual experts said there was no merit to them.

For years, Fox News has painted D.E.I. as the villain, but the push has become more pronounced in recent weeks as Trump has made dismantling these programs a key part of his presidential campaign. The irony? Fox News itself was, behind the scenes, a self-professed huge proponent of D.E.I. The network had made that clear in every job posting it had listed, I’ve learned — including in roles for shows such as “Fox & Friends,” “Hannity,” and “The Will Cain Show.” “We are deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including attracting, retaining, and promoting diverse talent across our company,” each Fox News job listing stated. And it didn’t stop there. The right-wing media company proudly declared, “We live in a diverse world, with different ideas and perspectives…reflecting the diversity of the world around us is critical to our company’s success.”

However, when I reached out out for comment and pointed out to a spokesperson that the channel’s on-air rhetoric was at severe odds with its stated goals, the company scrubbed the D.E.I. language. “Fox News Media routinely reviews our legal obligations including under federal, state, and local law and we have removed this language,” a spokesperson told me.

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