Trump Predicts CBS News’s New Owner Will ‘Do the Right Thing,’ Even as Margaret Brennan Takes More Heat for Anti-Trump Bias

President Trump is expressing optimism about the future of CBS News under the stewardship of its new owner, Skydance Media, which has committed to unbiased journalism.Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mr. Trump made a rare, somewhat positive comment about the “fake news” media as he suggested mainstream news outlets are trying to address their credibility crisis.“You turn to CNN, which is fake news and nobody watches, or MSDNC, they changed, MSNBC, they changed their name now because they’re so bad,” the president said. “They’re changing the name because they’re ashamed of it and they’re disassociating it from NBC, which is also fake news, you know, they should be ashamed of that, too. I think the news is getting better; they’re learning they have no credibility.”But then Mr. Trump turned his attention to the Tiffany Network, saying, “CBS was just sold to a great person that I know very well. A great man, actually.”Larry Ellison, left, financed the purchase of Paramount Global for his only son, David. Getty Images“He just bought CBS, and I think he’s going to do the right thing with it,” Mr. Trump said. Mr. Trump was likely referring to Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest man, who is a Trump supporter and was seen in the Oval Office earlier this year at an executive order signing. The senior Mr. Ellison bankrolled the purchase of Paramount Global — CBS’s parent company — by Skydance, of which his son, David, is CEO.Mr. Trump and David Ellison were seen near each other at two separate UFC events over the spring. In June, while the Skydance deal was still pending, the two men were seen talking and shaking hands at a UFC event, meetings that were reportedly arranged by Ari Emmanuel, who owns UFC and has a longtime relationship with Mr. Trump and the Ellisons. Mr. Trump later said he believed David Ellison would do a “great job” managing CBS.Mr. Trump’s latest comments come roughly a month after the Federal Communications Commission approved Skydance’s $8.4 billion acquisition of Paramount. The deal was greenlit after Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle Mr. Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit against CBS News for its editing of Vice President Kamala Harris’s interview with “60 Minutes,” which he said was deceptively edited to hurt his campaign.CBS News has been denounced by President Trump for its editing of the ’60 Minutes’ interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS NewsLeft-wing journalists and legal scholars decried the lawsuit as meritless and cast the decision to settle as a bribe to the Trump administration to ensure the FCC approved the merger. However, the former non-executive chairwoman of Paramount, Shari Redstone, told the New York Times this week that the situation was not so “black-and-white” and that she was concerned Mr. Trump’s legal team would uncover a damning edit of an October 2023 interview President Biden gave to “60 Minutes” where, during the taping, he had appeared “drowsy” and needed to be prompted to speak. (Mr. Biden appeared alert and cogent in the edited interview.) Ms. Redstone, who is Jewish, also said she came to believe the network needed more “balance,” as she expressed frustration with its negative coverage of Israel amid its war with Hamas. Most notably, she said she hoped Mr. Trump would be able to force CBS News to be fairer in its journalism, something she herself said she’d been unable to do.After Paramount settled Mr. Trump’s lawsuit, Skydance executives met with members of the FCC, which had yet to approve the acquisition, and memorialized those conversations in letters, which were later made public. The general counsel and co-president of business operations at Skydance, Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon, said the company is committed to “unbiased journalism” and to “presenting a diverse array of viewpoints on television” to “ensure that the company’s array of news and entertainment programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum, consistent with the varying perspectives of the viewing audience.”She said CBS would hire an “ombudsman” for at least two years to review and evaluate complaints of bias at the network. Shari Redstone attends a screening of ‘We Will Dance Again’ at Temple Emanu-El on September 18, 2024, at New York City. Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Paramount+Ms. McKinnon also said Skydance will eliminate all diversity initiatives at Paramount. CBS had been one of the most aggressive media companies when it came to imposing racial quotas and financial commitments to black producers after the death of George Floyd. Five years later, those programs and commitments have been rolled back. Mr. Ellison has expressed support for the news division, but declined to offer a concrete promise about allowing “60 Minutes,” which has operated with a virtually unprecedented level of independence, the same freedom from corporate interference. He said he wants to make the outlet one that center-right Americans can feel comfortable watching and be able to trust. Mr. Ellison’s vision for shifting the network’s editorial voice includes hiring Bari Weiss, the founder of the anti-woke, pro-Israel outlet the Free Press, to act as an “ideological guide,” according to a veteran media reporter, Matthew Belloni. Mr. Ellison is also reportedly in talks to bring back a former CBS News president and former Fox News executive, David Rhodes, to run the network. The CBS news personality Margaret Brennan spars with Secretary Marco Rubio on ‘Face the Nation.’ Paramount Global This week, Dylan Byers of ‘Puck’ reported that Skydance is feeling “bullish” that it can close the deal with Ms. Weiss.In the meantime, the staff at CBS News, who have been known for their stubborn resistance to their bosses’ mandates, appears to be acting as though it is business as usual at the network. The moderator of “Face The Nation,” Margaret Brennan, who has been repeatedly denounced for liberal bias and offensive statements over the last year, was criticized again on Sunday, by Secretary Marco Rubio, for pushing a “stupid media narrative” that European leaders traveled to Washington as backup in case Mr. Trump tried to “bully” the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, into giving up land to end Russia’s invasion.Meanwhile, Mr. Byers reported that CBS News is losing $50 million a year. A network representative denied that, and two anonymous sources later told a far-left media reporter, Oliver Darcy, that the report was false. However, Mr. Darcy cited a “veteran television executive,” who said that broadcast television networks’ accounting can be complicated, and “It’s all about how you want to do the accounting. … You can make any of these things look however you want.”Mr. Byers shared CBS’s denial but stood by his initial report and promised to share more details.The CBS News personality Margaret Brennan on her program, ‘Face the Nation.’ CBS NewsRegardless of whether the financial situation at CBS News is as bleak as Mr. Byers’s report suggests, the leaking of its dire financial straits appears to be an effort by someone at the network to communicate that the current model is failing. And it is likely to lead Skydance executives to look for ways they can further slim down CBS News’ budget, which has already been cut to the bone through layoffs and salary cuts for its major talent, as they seek to slash $2 billion in costs at Paramount.CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Trump Predicts CBS News’s New Owner Will ‘Do the Right Thing,’ Even as Margaret Brennan Takes More Heat for Anti-Trump Bias

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