Jul 3, 2025 06:14 PM
(This post was last modified: Jul 3, 2025 06:45 PM by C C.)
BACKGROUND (CNN): Paramount settles Trump’s ‘60 Minutes’ lawsuit with $16 million payout and no apology
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AFTER PARTY (with Emily Jashinsky, Mark Halperin)
https://youtu.be/BU2u5HuoQbY
- - - VIDEO EXCERPTS - - -
Emily Jashinsky: I'm really curious to get your take on the CBS settlement [...] because you were inside the big network media world for a long time.
Mark Halperin: [...] So in this case I can say, without fear of contradiction, that the reason they did what they did was not as the lawsuit charges -- i.e., to help Kamala Harris. They did it because that's the way they make the sausage. They want the thing to be linear. They want it to be compact and good storytelling.
Now, again, I'll say CBS News, like everybody else in the legacy media, did lots of things to hurt Donald Trump and help Kamala Harris during this campaign. This was not one of them.
But because they are so unable to defend their normal shoddy practices that do represent bias, they had to pay the money because -- and this is the dirtiest little secret of all -- they didn't want to go through discovery.
Because if the Trump lawyers got a hold of all the communications done by CBS and "60 Minutes" during this process, then there would be trouble for CBS.
[...] Part of the settlement was they want the merger to go through. Part of the settlement is they don't want discovery. I'm sure. And part of it is, again, as deluded and in denial as they are about their actual transgressions, they know that they don't have a leg to stand on because they have been biased in so many other cases.
I'll say again, ironically, this was not one of them.
[...] Ironically, this was not a professional failure. This is business as usual. [...] People might find it unfortunate, but the New York Times does it. The Free Beacon does it. You do an interview and you run parts of the interview that aren't necessarily lined up with the exact question. I can understand why civilians, regular non-pros, would find that offensive, but it's what happens.
[...] It'd be like a bunch of doctors killing a bunch of their patients through professional negligence.
And then people say, "Well, you know, doctor, can you help me with something?"
And doctor's like, "Well, I can't help you because I'm professionally negligent, but I won't admit it. So, I'm just going to give you money to make it go away."
[...] If every news magazine producer who selectively and misleadingly edited an interview had to pay $15 million to the Donald Trump presidential library, it would look like the Taj Mahal or the Kremlin, because they all do it.
[...] Paramont and the leadership there wanted to make this go away. So, they were willing to pay any price, not bear any burden, but pay any price to make it go away.
Emily Jashinsky: Right, they want their merger to go through, and they want to have a good working relationship with the Trump administration...
The Dirty Secret ... https://youtu.be/BU2u5HuoQbY
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/BU2u5HuoQbY
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AFTER PARTY (with Emily Jashinsky, Mark Halperin)
https://youtu.be/BU2u5HuoQbY
- - - VIDEO EXCERPTS - - -
Emily Jashinsky: I'm really curious to get your take on the CBS settlement [...] because you were inside the big network media world for a long time.
Mark Halperin: [...] So in this case I can say, without fear of contradiction, that the reason they did what they did was not as the lawsuit charges -- i.e., to help Kamala Harris. They did it because that's the way they make the sausage. They want the thing to be linear. They want it to be compact and good storytelling.
Now, again, I'll say CBS News, like everybody else in the legacy media, did lots of things to hurt Donald Trump and help Kamala Harris during this campaign. This was not one of them.
But because they are so unable to defend their normal shoddy practices that do represent bias, they had to pay the money because -- and this is the dirtiest little secret of all -- they didn't want to go through discovery.
Because if the Trump lawyers got a hold of all the communications done by CBS and "60 Minutes" during this process, then there would be trouble for CBS.
[...] Part of the settlement was they want the merger to go through. Part of the settlement is they don't want discovery. I'm sure. And part of it is, again, as deluded and in denial as they are about their actual transgressions, they know that they don't have a leg to stand on because they have been biased in so many other cases.
I'll say again, ironically, this was not one of them.
[...] Ironically, this was not a professional failure. This is business as usual. [...] People might find it unfortunate, but the New York Times does it. The Free Beacon does it. You do an interview and you run parts of the interview that aren't necessarily lined up with the exact question. I can understand why civilians, regular non-pros, would find that offensive, but it's what happens.
[...] It'd be like a bunch of doctors killing a bunch of their patients through professional negligence.
And then people say, "Well, you know, doctor, can you help me with something?"
And doctor's like, "Well, I can't help you because I'm professionally negligent, but I won't admit it. So, I'm just going to give you money to make it go away."
[...] If every news magazine producer who selectively and misleadingly edited an interview had to pay $15 million to the Donald Trump presidential library, it would look like the Taj Mahal or the Kremlin, because they all do it.
[...] Paramont and the leadership there wanted to make this go away. So, they were willing to pay any price, not bear any burden, but pay any price to make it go away.
Emily Jashinsky: Right, they want their merger to go through, and they want to have a good working relationship with the Trump administration...
The Dirty Secret ... https://youtu.be/BU2u5HuoQbY
