Paramount Criticized for ‘Ridiculous’ Plan To Hire Ombudsman To Work ‘About One Day a Month’ Combating Bias at CBS News

The trouble may already be beginning over Skydance’s commitment to eradicate liberal and anti-MAGA bias at CBS News. Paramount Global, just acquired by Skydance, is searching for an ombudsman who would police content at the troubled news outlet, but would only work “about one day a month,” according to a report in the New York Post, which also reports that the part-time position will pay about $250,000 a year. Last month, Skydance committed to the Federal Communications Commission that it would hire the ombudsman to review and evaluate complaints of bias against the broadcaster. The commitment was made as Skydance sought to win approval of its $8.4 billion acquisition of Paramount Global. However, since the promise was disclosed, many details about the position, such as its exact remit, have been murky at best. Skydance’s memo to the FCC memorializing its commitment to hire the ombudsman said the executive will report to the president of Paramount, but left-wing media journalists suggested that the position will report to the Trump administration. A new column from the New York Post’s Charles Gasparino is shedding some light on the company’s expectations for the position. Mr. Gasparino writes that CBS News expects the ombudsman will only have to work “about a day a month” and will earn a salary of about $250,000 a year. David Ellison and his new leadership team, including CBS’s CEO, George Cheeks, second from right, speak to journalists at Paramount’s New York City offices on August 7, 2025. Paramount Global“Sources told me the workload would amount to about a day a month, which outside observers said was ridiculous. The salary would be in the low six figures, [around] $250,000 a year, these people said,” Mr. Gasparino said. A telecom lawyer told the columnist that he believes $250,000 a year is “way too low given all the bias over there” and that whoever gets the job will be “working a lot more than one day a month.”The ombudsman is supposed to report to the president of Paramount, Jeff Shell, and address complaints of a left-wing bias at the network for at least two years. While the position reports to Paramount, Mr. Gasparino says that the FCC will be “monitoring the effectiveness of the ombudsman in rooting out what conservatives … [consider] wide-spread left-wing bias in the network’s news programming.”Paramount executives are interviewing executives from conservative media outlets and think tanks for the position, according to Mr. Gasparino. Larry Ellison, left, financed the purchase of Paramount Global for his only son, David. Getty ImagesCBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. The role of an ombudsman in the media is not new, though they have mostly been hired at newspapers — reporting to the top editors — to investigate complaints about their coverage to try to create a level of trust with their readers. The positions have created internal controversies. The New York Times laid off its ombudsman in 2017 after years of strife. It is rare for a television network to have an ombudsman. PBS hired an ombudsman, Michael Getler, for the first time in 2005. In 2017, Mr. Getler retired, and the network hired a public editor, Madhulika Sikka, who’d worked with PBS and NPR executives when they were all at ABC News’s “Nightline.” A rare example of an ombudsman position being created at a broadcast network is NBC News, which briefly expanded the remit of its top editorial standards executive following Comcast’s purchase of NBCUniversal in 2011. The role was supposed to ensure NBC News’s editorial independence from Comcast rather than to police liberal bias, which was not a concern of the Obama administration.CBS’s Margaret Brennan spars with Secretary Marco Rubio on ‘Face the Nation.’ Paramount Global The conditions under which CBS News is creating its ombudsman appear to be virtually unprecedented for a broadcast network, as it was agreed to in order to help ensure the government approved a merger.What’s also unprecedented is for a citadel of the liberal media to effectively be put under a consent decree by its parent company and be monitored for liberal bias.The Trump-appointed chairman of the FCC, Brendan Carr, told the “PBS News Hour” in July, “The government is signing off on the concept of the company having an ombudsman. And to the extent that their job is to make sure that there’s balance in the newsroom, balanced news, I think it’s good that they have it.”“Again, it’s not direct regulation by the FCC in terms of regulation of the newsroom itself. It’s the company saying, we want to put forth an ombudsman to help us do our job,” he said. “And, again, on the broadcast side, these are entities that have an obligation to promote the public interest. And I think it can be a good thing.”Jeff Shell poses for a picture at the 2014 LA’s Promise Gala at Universal City, California. Rob Latour/Invision/AP, fileLeft-wing journalists have fueled speculation and concerns that the ombudsman would be a kind of spy for the FCC and Trump administration, reporting back to the government on the inner workings of CBS News and complaints of bias.Mr. Shell told reporters during Skydance executives’ first press conference since the deal closed that the ombudsman will report to Skydance and is merely “a transparency vehicle, not an oversight vehicle.” Mr. Shell said, “We’re not being overseen by the FCC or anybody else.”How effective the ombudsman will be in reining in bias is yet to be seen. However, media reporters have predicted that the position will struggle to accomplish its goal at CBS News, where the staff has a well-known pattern of ignoring executives’ mandates and leaking embarrassing or damaging information, undermining them with the belief (which has largely been confirmed over the years) that they will outlast their bosses.A veteran media reporter, Matthew Belloni, said in his podcast “The Town” that the ombudsman will be “hated” at CBS. President Trump denounces CBS News in a conversation with Dan Bongino. RumbleThe decision to hire an ombudsman comes as the chief executive of Skydance, David Ellison, says he wants to turn the network into an outlet that center-right Americans can trust and watch.While there are doubts among industry insiders about whether Mr. Ellison will succeed in his mission of cleaning up bias — something many executives at CBS News have failed to do — President Trump appears to have high expectations for the future of the network.On Friday, Mr. Trump said CBS was sold to a “great man,” an apparent reference to David Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison, who is the world’s second richest man and a Trump supporter.“He just bought CBS, and I think he’s going to do the right thing with it,” Mr. Trump said. (Larry Ellison bankrolled his son’s purchase of Paramount.) The FCC chairman, Brendan Carr, testifies before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government at the Rayburn House Office Building on May 21, 2025, at Washington, DC. John McDonnell/Getty ImagesAnd in the meantime, the president appears to be holding off on criticism of CBS News, after months of a constant stream of attacks. Indeed, over the weekend, he said ABC News and NBC News should lose their broadcast licenses, and notably left out CBS News. The premier CBS News program, “60 Minutes,” has been on its usual summer vacation after running a weekly series of anti-Trump pieces. It’s unclear if it will adhere to the mandate for fairer and more objective reporting. But at a lesser broadcast, “Face the Nation,” a CBS News personality, Margaret Brennan, known for trying to fact-check Vice President JD Vance at the vice presidential debate this past summer — even though the network has agreed not to fact-check — has continued to make controversial, bias-tinged comments during combative interviews with Trump officials.

Paramount Criticized for ‘Ridiculous’ Plan To Hire Ombudsman To Work ‘About One Day a Month’ Combating Bias at CBS News

More from the New York Sun

Trump Winds Up His Summit Confident in Having Built a Rapport on Crucial Issues, From Iran to Trade

With ‘No-Bad-Idea’ Brainstorm, Kamala Harris Rains on America in the Name of ‘Reform’

Phone Companies Plan To Work Together To End Coverage Dead Zones

More from the New York Sun

Trump Winds Up His Summit Confident in Having Built a Rapport on Crucial Issues, From Iran to Trade

With ‘No-Bad-Idea’ Brainstorm, Kamala Harris Rains on America in the Name of ‘Reform’

Phone Companies Plan To Work Together To End Coverage Dead Zones

Federal Government Seeks To Seize Land From Catholic Dioceses in New Mexico To Build Border Wall

Gavin Newsom’s Kamala Harris Problem Could Derail His Presidential Prospects

The Beltway’s Businessmen Are Losing Sight of How Free Markets Work

Preakness Offers Chance for Female Trainers To Complete Triple Crown

Populist Independent’s Moving Life Story Stands To Upend Nebraska Congressional Race