In early July, Paramount announced it would be merging with Skydance Media in an $8 billion deal that was to be finalized on August 7th. Paramount is one of the “Big 5” original movie studios to dominate Hollywood and has produced some of the most iconic films in cinematic history, including Grease, The Godfather, and Mission: Impossible. In addition, Paramount has made its mark on television through companies like BET, MTV, and CBS. Skydance, however, is fairly new in the game and was established in 2010 and has produced films like Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Top Gun: Maverick, and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The company’s founder, David Ellison, will take over as the new CEO of Paramount.
Though not everyone agrees with this new merger, and with CBS under new management, some believe it could mean the end of journalism. It started with the 60 Minutes interview with former vice president Kamala Harris. President Donald Trump would sue Paramount for deceptive editing of the interview, which he claims tipped the scales in favor of the Democratic Party. Paramount issued a $16 million payout to the president to settle the lawsuit.
Later, news broke of a possible deal between President Trump and Paramount to receive $20 million in advertising, public service announcements, or other programming once the merger is finalized. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts characterized the settlement as “bribery.” The merger became even more controversial when it was announced on July 17th that The Late Show with Stephan Colbert will be airing its final season next year. CBS stated that the show will be canceled for “financial reasons,” but seeing as it is the highest-rated late-night show to date, many fans find that hard to believe.
It’s easy to see why Colbert fans believe Trump’s reported involvement in the Paramount/Skydance merger was related to the show ending, for Colbert has been known to ridicule the president on various occasions. Therefore, if the president does have a stake in the merger involving CBS, it would be fitting for him to get rid of the very program that criticizes him the most. Senators Bernie Sanders and Ron Wyden have even sent letters to Ellison (an avid supporter of Trump) to ask whether Skydance had anything to do with The Late Show’s cancellation.
Although Skydance claims to have no side deal with Trump granting free advertisement, some believe that it’s about time Colbert’s progressive reign comes to an end. NewsBusters found that since 2022, The Late Show has only hosted one Republican out of 176 left-leaning guests. Others believe that hosts should focus more on giving their audience a good time and less on jeering politicians.
Former late-night host Jay Leno stated,
“And I love political humor, don’t get me wrong, but what happens (is) people wind up cozying too much to one side or the other. … Why shoot for just half an audience? … Why not try to get the whole (audience)?”
Even so, the whole situation surrounding The Late Show with Stephan Colbert being canceled raises questions about the power government officials have over the media and whether business deals like this could lead to the downfall of true journalism. Journalist Marvin Kalb
stated that the Skydance takeover could be a threat to CBS’s journalistic independence and moral integrity. Kalb fears CBS News will become timid in how it approaches any critical story about the president. Although CBS certainly had its biases before the merger, there’s a risk that the news will be manipulated in a way that puts those in power in a good light, disregarding criticisms.
Former CBS anchor Connie Chung said,
“The [CBS] news division was autonomous…unencumbered by pressures from politicians, including presidents…I can see very clearly that the days that I remembered are long gone.”
This is not just a fight for CBS News’ integrity but for free press. Looking at the United States Constitution, freedom of speech and freedom of press are mentioned separately, and with good reason because they don’t mean the same thing. Freedom of speech is the right to communicate one’s opinions and ideas without fear of censorship or punishment by the government. Freedom of the press is the right to publish information and opinions without government control or censorship, with the aim of giving the public a diverse set of perspectives and keeping those in power accountable. The constitution distinguishes freedom of press from freedom of speech because it recognizes that the press’s role in distributing news impacts the entire society, not just individuals with freedom of speech.
All government officials are responsible for upholding constitutional rights, and scaring news networks into compliance does not uphold those rights. Katherine Jacobson, who is a program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, says that Trump’s “flurry of executive actions” within his first 100 days has the potential to” curtail media freedoms.” Though Press Secretary Anna Kelly ensured that Trump signed an executive order to protect free speech on his first day back in office. Whatever the case, if politicians attempt to control the media, it could not just mean the end of journalism but the beginning of tyranny.
It’s amazing how something like a business merger can cause such political uproar. In the end, Paramount is in the entertainment industry, and one of the purposes of entertainment is to give audiences a break, an escape from the real world. When people tune in to watch late-night TV at the end of an exhausting workday, the last thing they want is another political lecture; they want a good laugh. After all, laughter is good medicine and has the miraculous ability to cause one to forget about the stresses of life, even for a brief moment.
Now, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and political satire, if done right, can produce some of the best comedy on television. The issue is when there’s too much of one perspective and not enough of the other. The beauty is in the balance. I was very surprised to hear of Stephan Colbert’s impending exit from late-night TV, but most of us can only hope that this merger marks the beginning of a new era for Paramount and not the death of media integrity.