By David Shepardson
(Reuters) -A Democrat on the Federal Communications Commission called Paramount’s $16 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit filed by U.S. President Donald Trump over a CBS News’ 60 Minutes interview broadcast with rival Kamala Harris “a desperate move” to secure approval of a merger.
Paramount needs approval from the FCC for an $8.4-billion merger with Skydance Media. FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez said the settlement over an entirely “meritless” lawsuit “now casts a long shadow over the integrity of the transaction pending before the FCC” and “marks a dangerous precedent for the First Amendment and it should alarm anyone who values a free and independent press.”
FCC Chair Brendan Carr, a Republican named to the post by Trump, said last week the FCC is reviewing Paramount’s proposed $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media. The FCC did not make a decision by the 180-day informal deadline in mid-May.
Carr did not immediately comment Wednesday.
“Had Paramount chosen to fight this in court, they would have prevailed on the facts and the law,” Gomez said.
She called for the FCC commissioners to vote on the deal rather than allow it to be approved by agency staff through delegated authority “given the extraordinary public interest in this deal, the novel legal questions raised by the lawsuit and its resolution, and the repeated calls from lawmakers for transparency.”
In January, Carr reinstated complaints about the “60 Minutes” Harris interview, as well as complaints about how Walt Disney’s ABC News moderated the pre-election televised debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump and Comcast’s NBC for allowing Harris to appear on “Saturday Night Live” shortly before the election.
In March, CBS and conservative advocacy groups asked the FCC to reject the news distortion complaint over the 60 Minutes Harris interview.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio; Editing by David Gregorio)
