Skydance to FCC: We’ll Crack Down on CBS News Bias

Tell me more. I’m listening.

Actually, color me a bit skeptical about this claim from Skydance Media. They wanted the FCC to approve their acquisition of Paramount, which includes CBS and its news division. (The FCC approved it late yesterday, in fact.) That already prompted Paramount to settle the lawsuit from Donald Trump over fraud claims relating to CBS News and 60 Minutes for manipulating its recorded interview with Kamala Harris to make her sound coherent. That cost Paramount at least $16 million, and Trump claimed on Tuesday that Skydance committed to another $20 million from in-kind programming:

One would likely think that would suffice to get the acquisition across the finish line with the regulatory committees. Perhaps Skydance wants to make sure no obstacle goes unfluffed — or maybe they’re serious about improving the product they’re buying:

Skydance Media has made a series of new commitments to eliminate bias in news and entertainment programming at CBS and its parent company, Paramount, when its planned acquisition of the companies is complete. Skydance is also confirming the “elimination” of all “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” policies and initiatives at Paramount, which had been one of the most aggressive proponents of DEI in the entertainment business. 

Should the Trump administration, as expected, approve the transaction, Skydance now says it will launch a “comprehensive review of CBS” focused on bias, as well as appoint an “ombudsman” to “evaluate complaints of bias or other concerns involving CBS,” and eliminate Paramount’s controversial Office of Global Inclusion.

“When it comes to the legacy national news media, change is long overdue,” Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr told the Washington Free Beacon.

Well, there’s no doubt about that. That’s a far bigger concern than, say, Stephen Colbert’s martyr act on The Late Show. CBS News and 60 Minutes have a long track record of cooking stories for political attacks on Republicans and tossing softballs at Democrats. They only got caught this time because Harris is too incompetent to hit softballs, and so they had to resort to T-ball tactics to make her sound as though she knew what she’s talking about. 

So how seriously should we take this? It’s easy to claim that they “recognize the importance of unbiased journalism” and to commit to “presenting a diverse array of viewpoints on television.” It’s so easy, in fact, that CBS has claimed to do that very thing in its news division all along. Just ask them! They’re not biased at all! 

The appointment of an ombudsman might be a good first step. Unfortunately, their metric threshold seems just a tad bit low:

Did anyone know that Comcast has an ombudsman for NBC News? I certainly didn’t. Has anyone noticed a difference in editorial bias at NBC since the Comcast acquisition in 2011? Actually, I have — it’s gotten worse. NBC News is every bit as bad as its CBS counterpart, and that’s apart from MSNBC. If that is Skydance’s idea of a success story, look out.

On the other hand, Skydance is at least admitting a problem exists. And despite their kissing up to the FCC on this and on DEI programs, there’s not really much the FCC can do to enforce viewpoint diversity and fair play. Technically, they can revoke broadcast licenses, but that’s a draconian step and smacks of the same kind of top-down viewpoint refereeing that the Biden administration imposed on social media platforms and broadcasters. This may be just lip service, but at least Skydance understands that some lip service is actually necessary. 

And perhaps, just perhaps, they may want to make their investment more profitable by increasing consumer trust in it by tearing out the Narrative Minders and returning to actual news, real debate, and an end to partisan propaganda. That strategy would have the virtue of not having been tried by its market competitors, a point that Skydance should keep in mind. 

Editor’s Note: The mainstream media continues to deflect, gaslight, spin, and lie about President Trump, his administration, and conservatives.

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