Paramount-Skydance merger approved after companies agree to government speech demands

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has approved Skydance’s $8 cardinal acquisition of CBS-owner Paramount aft the companies agreed to extremity diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs but diagnostic a “diversity of viewpoints from crossed the governmental and ideological spectrum.”

In airy of the Trump administration’s critiques of CBS’s alleged anti-conservative bias — including collecting a $16 cardinal colony implicit the president’s lawsuit implicit an allegedly deceptively edited video of then-Democratic statesmanlike campaigner Kamala Harris connected 60 Minutes — the companies’ committedness to code bias successful the suit apt means featuring much blimpish programming. Skydance agreed to employment an ombudsman for astatine slightest 2 years, “who volition person and measure immoderate complaints of bias oregon different concerns involving CBS.” 

“Americans nary longer spot the bequest nationalist quality media to study fully, accurately, and fairly. It is clip for a change,” Republican FCC Chair Brendan Carr said successful a connection announcing the agency’s approval. “That is wherefore I invited Skydance’s committedness to marque important changes astatine the erstwhile storied CBS broadcast network.” He said the commitments “would alteration CBS to run successful the nationalist involvement and absorption connected fair, unbiased, and fact-based coverage,” and people “another measurement guardant successful the FCC’s efforts to destruct invidious forms of DEI discrimination.” Carr besides boasts that Skydance “reaffirms its committedness to localism arsenic a halfway constituent of the nationalist involvement standard,” and that the support volition “unleash the concern of $1.5 cardinal into Paramount.”

Carr has made nary secret of his distaste for quality sum helium sees arsenic disproportionately unfavorable to the close and DEI policies helium believes lend to unfair treatment. He’s opened investigations into each 3 large networks arsenic good arsenic NPR and PBS (NBCUniversal and its proprietor Comcast are investors successful The Verge genitor institution Vox Media). A week ago, CBS announced it was retiring The Late Show, hosted by Trump professional and comedian Stephen Colbert. The web said it was “purely a fiscal decision.”

The FCC’s only remaining Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, dissented, penning that, “In an unprecedented move, this once-independent FCC utilized its immense powerfulness to unit Paramount to broker a backstage ineligible colony and further erode property state … Even much alarming, it is present imposing never-before-seen controls implicit newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, successful nonstop usurpation of the First Amendment and the law.” Still, she gave Carr recognition for calling a ballot connected the matter, alternatively than rubber-stamping the merger done 1 of the agency’s bureaus, similar it did for the Verizon-Frontier merger, which likewise required an extremity to DEI programs.

Gomez warns that this statement is conscionable the canary successful the ember mine. “The Paramount payout and this reckless support person emboldened those who judge the authorities can—and should—abuse its powerfulness to extract fiscal and ideological concessions, request favored treatment, and unafraid affirmative media coverage,” she writes. “It is simply a acheronian section successful a agelong and increasing grounds of maltreatment that threatens property state successful this country. But specified violations endure lone erstwhile institutions take capitulation implicit courage. It is clip for companies, journalists, and citizens alike to basal up and talk out, due to the fact that unchecked and unquestioned powerfulness has nary rightful spot successful America.”