Pressure Mounts on CBS News Executives Over Resistance To Settling Trump’s $20 Billion ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit, Botched Revamp of ‘Evening News’

Shari Redstone, the matriarch of the family that controls Paramount and its subsidiary, CBS Inc., is “firmly committed” to settling President Trump’s lawsuit against the CBS News “60 Minutes,” if that’s what it takes to get government approval of Paramount’s acquisition by the son of the billionaire Larry Ellison, according to a new report from Puck. This means the embattled leadership team at CBS News, which reportedly strongly opposes a settlement, could be headed for a shake-up. The New York Times recently reported that the two sides had agreed on a mediator, former judge, Daniel Weinstein, was reported earlier this week as Paramount hopes to resolve Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against CBS for its editing of Vice President Harris’ October interview with “60 Minutes,” which he says could have cost him the election. “60 Minutes” producers edited the pre-taped interview with Ms. Harris to make one of her answers to a question about Prime Minister Netanyahu posed by the interviewer Bill Whitaker sound more coherent. The editing was exposed after CBS News released, perhaps as a result of poor internal coordination, on lesser CBS News platforms, two alternate versions that showed Ms. Harris giving different answers to the Netanyahu question. CBS News argues that editing taped interviews for brevity and clarity is standard practice. Its antagonists, however, argue that at the time of the interview, Ms. Harris was avoiding serious interviewers, and her penchant for what her detractors called “word salad” had emerged as a major issue in the campaign. By making Ms. Harris look coherent – when in fact she wasn’t – CBS News, which has a decades-long reputation for liberal bias, aided Ms. Harris politically, these antagonists argue.Mr. Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit comes as Paramount’s planned deal to be bought by Skydance is still being reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission, and the deadline for its approval has been extended by 90 days. The outgoing head of Paramount, Shari Redstone, wants a settlement if it can help make sure the merger with Skydance gets approval from the Federal Communications Commission, according to Puck’s Dylan Byers.A settlement of Mr. Trump’s lawsuit could come with other legal perils. The Wall Street Journal reported that executives at Paramount are concerned that settling the suit could be seen as a bribe to win the FCC’s approval. One way to try to refute that allegation would be for Paramount to concede that “60 Minutes” erred in its editing and apologize. Wendy McMahon. CEO of CBS News. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, FileHowever, an admission of fault – which has faced staunch opposition from the news division, according to various reports – could lead to firings or forced resignations of top executives at CBS News. The liberal journalist Oliver Darcy reported that the chief executive of CBS News, Wendy McMahon, and the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Bill Owens, have stated that issuing an apology for the editing of the Harris interview is a “red line” they will not cross. “60 Minutes” has previously issued apologies after it aired flawed or inaccurate segments. However, Mr. Owens told staff in a February meeting that was reported by the New York Times, “There have been reports in the media about a settlement and/or apology. The company knows I will not apologize for anything we have done.”“The edit is perfectly fine; let’s put that to bed so we can get on with our lives,” he said, referring to the release of the transcript, which CBS News was about to finally release — after resisting for months — on the orders of Mr. Trump’s FCC.Whether the talks will yield a settlement remains to be seen. Mr. Trump recently reached a settlement with ABC News after its star, George Stephanopoulos, falsely and repeatedly stated on air that Mr. Trump had been “found liable for rape,” for $16 million. CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. While Ms. McMahon and Ms. Owens have reportedly frustrated their bosses with their dissent on the issue of a settlement, their management of CBS News programming has been facing additional scrutiny.Shari Redstone attends a NYC Special Screening Event of We Will Dance Again at Temple Emanu-El on September 18, 2024 at New York City. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Paramount+Ms. McMahon took the helm of the Tiffany Network in 2023 despite coming from a local news background and having no experience leading a national news organization. In August, she cobbled together a leadership team composed of two other women who had no national newsroom experience, Jennifer Mitchell and Adrienne Roark, the latter left the network after just seven months on the job in what was seen as a forced ouster as the network became embroiled in antisemitism controversies related.. Amid the persistent allegations of a left-wing and anti-Israel bias in CBS News’ coverage and the Harris interview, which prompted Mr. Trump’s lawsuit and an FCC investigation, Ms. McMahon and Mr. Owens have also raised eyebrows for their botched revamp of the stories “CBS Evening News.”Mr. Owens tried to dramatically reshape the format of the “Evening News” program after Norah O’Donnell’s exit from the program, at the direction of Ms. McMahon, who didn’t want to pay Ms. O’Donnell’s multi-million dollar salary and had reportedly desired to reshape the show for years. As is often the case at CBS News, “60 Minutes” was tasked with fixing other issues at the news division. Mr. Owens replaced the standard single-anchor format with an unusual dual-anchor system, using two lesser-known and far lower paid anchors, John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois, to replace Ms. O’Donnell. Along with changing the anchor format, the executives tried to shift the “Evening News” away from a show focused on the daily news to more of a newsmagazine style, like “60 Minutes.” The experiment quickly received criticism as the evening news aired a segment titled “Why Can’t Johnny Read?” that focused on student literacy instead of reporting on news about Russia’s release of an American prisoner. The new format launched on January 27, drawing 5.2 million total viewers, but for its first full week, it averaged 4.8 million viewers. By its third week, its audience was down to 4.5 million viewers. Executive Producer Bill Owens of ’60 Minutes’ Frederick M. Brown/Getty ImagesThe program has been in third place in the ratings for decades. However, with its revamp, it has given its main competitors, NBC News and ABC News, an even larger advantage. For the week of March 31, “ABC World News Tonight” came in first place with more than 7.5 million total viewers, followed by “NBC Nightly News,” with 6.1 million total viewers, and CBS came in a distant third with 3.9 million total viewers, according to data from the Nielsen Company. In the first quarter, CBS’ “Evening News” averaged 4.59 million viewers, down eight percent from 2024. In the coveted 25-54 demo, the program had 657,000 viewers, down nine percent from the previous year. For the first quarter, that puts the “CBS Evening News” just ahead of Fox News’ “The Five” round-table talk show program, which competes with it outside of the Eastern time zone, which drew in 4.55 million viewers during the same time period. It is extraordinary for a cable news program to be nipping at the heels of a broadcast news program. The broadcast evening news audience, while elderly and low-income and steadily shrinking, remains enormous compared to that of cable news.The failed revamp of the “Evening News” as well as the controversy surrounding “60 Minutes” has led to speculation that Ms. McMahon may be fired by her incoming bosses.The new format of the ‘CBS Evening News’ is failing to connect with viewers. CBS NewsOne CBS insider told the New York Post in February, “I don’t think Wendy survives.” “Where are Wendy’s wins? What has she done?” they asked. Matt Belloni, on his closely listened to podcast, “The Town,” recently said of Ms. McMahon that “she’ll be gone in six months.” Amid the speculation that Ms. McMahon’s stewardship of CBS News could be coming to an end, it was announced in February that the network would bring on as her deputy the network news veteran Tom Cibrowski, who spent 25 years at ABC News, as the president and executive editor, which was seen as an attempt to help steady the ship. It’s not clear if Mr. Cibrowski, who has longstanding professional ties to Ms. McMahon and her husband from ABC’s local station group, was brought in by Ms. McMahon to help her survive or brought in by CBS Inc. to ultimately replace her and if he’ll survive her expected exit.A network insider predicted that Mr. Cibrowski, whose background is in field producing and morning television, will have the same difficulty managing “60 Minutes,” which is known for considering itself above the rest of the news division, as many of his fallen predecessors.

Pressure Mounts on CBS News Executives Over Resistance To Settling Trump’s $20 Billion ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit, Botched Revamp of ‘Evening News’

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