All posts tagged "cbs news"

How our media became so vulnerable to Trump — and what we can do about it

Jimmy Kimmel returned to the airwaves just two weeks and two days ago (although in Trump time, it seems far longer).

Disney’s decision to allow Kimmel back on was a victory for freedom of the press and a setback for Trump’s authoritarianism.

Nonetheless, today’s media ecosystem is far more vulnerable to authoritarianism than it was decades ago.

Today I want to explore three structural changes in our political economy that have made it so, and suggest what must be done to strengthen media independence.

1. Media concentration has facilitated censorship

After Paramount’s CBS settled Trump’s frivolous $16 million lawsuit against them and canceled Stephen Colbert, much to Trump’s delight, the FCC swiftly approved Paramount’s merger with Skydance.

The result: a newly consolidated media giant now run by David Ellison — son of Larry Ellison, the world’s third-richest man and a major Trump donor.

Now, Ellison has announced Paramount’s acquisition of The Free Press and installed its anti-“woke” founder, Bari Weiss, as editor-in-chief of CBS News.

This is the same billionaire-led conglomerate that wants to absorb Warner Bros. Discovery — an even bigger step toward the concentration of the power to shape public opinion.

The proposed merger would hand control of CNN, CBS News, HBO, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, HGTV, TNT, and more to a single mega-corporation — with Trump’s allies at the helm.

When the media is under the control of a handful of people, it’s far easier for an authoritarian in the White House to intimidate that handful — and force them to do his bidding — than when the media is less concentrated.

In 1983, the U.S. media was dominated by 50 companies. Today, that number has shrunk to just six giant media conglomerates.

2. Ultra-wealthy individuals are now controlling major media. These are people likely to be biased against the public’s right to know.

The second trend has been a shift in control over those media corporations to a relative handful of ultra-wealthy moguls.

As noted, the Ellison family is rapidly taking over a large swath of media.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, bought X (then Twitter) for $42 billion. He then turned it into a right-wing cesspool.

Jeff Bezos, the second richest, owns Amazon and The Washington Post.

Rupert Murdoch, another billionaire, owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post.

Why are the ultra-rich buying up so much of the media? Vanity may play a part, but there’s a more pragmatic — some might say sinister — reason.

As vast wealth concentrates in the hands of a few, this small group of the ultra-wealthy may rationally fear that majorities of voters could confiscate their wealth through, for example, a wealth tax or the elimination of the “stepped-up basis at death” rule, which would tax all capital gains.

If you’re a billionaire, in other words, you may view democracy as a potential threat to your net worth.

Control over a significant share of the dwindling number of media outlets enables you to effectively hedge against democracy by subtly (or not so subtly) suppressing criticism of you and other plutocrats.

Seen in this light, Jeff Bezos’s decree that The Washington Post’s opinion section support “personal liberties and free markets” isn’t just a means of ingratiating himself with Trump. It also reduces the risk that movers and shakers in the nation’s capital might be seduced into raising taxes on people like Bezos.

3. The shift from stakeholder to shareholder capitalism.

Behind these maneuvers lies a third underlying shift — from the stakeholder capitalism of the first three decades after World War II to the shareholder capitalism that began in the 1980s — along with the rise, starting in the 1990s, of CEO pay packages consisting of large amounts of shares of stock and options to purchase additional shares.

Paramount (CBS) surrendered to Trump, and Disney (ABC) initially did so, because they determined that fighting him would have cost those firms’ CEOs and shareholders far more.

Disney then discovered — when its customers threatened to boycott all Disney products and services — that the actual cost of surrender was far higher than it had counted on. Hence, its decision to reinstate Kimmel.

I’m old enough to remember when CBS News would never have surrendered to a demagogic president. But that was when CBS News — the home of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite — was independent of the rest of CBS, and when the top management of CBS had independent responsibilities to the American public.

The New York Times, by contrast, decided to fight Trump from the moment he initiated a lawsuit against it. That may be because the Times is owned and controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family through a trust that holds a majority of special, high-voting shares in the company. The Times is not dedicated to maximizing shareholder value; it’s dedicated to the public’s right to know.

***

Trump and his stooges are engaged in blatant political censorship that runs afoul of the First Amendment.

But the three underlying trends I’ve just outlined — the consolidation of media into a handful of outlets, the increasing control of the media by the ultra-rich, and the growing primacy of shareholder interests — have made it far easier for Trump and his lackeys to do their dirty work.

When and if We the People are ever back in charge, not only do we have to protect freedom of speech from demagoguery, but we must also reverse these three underlying trends that have made it far too easy for a demagogue to undermine such freedom.

This will require:

conditioning media ownership on a proven commitment to the public’s right to know,
using antitrust laws to prevent or break up media monopolies and giant media conglomerates, and
raising taxes on the ultra-wealthy so they have less power to undermine our democracy.

Easier said than done, obviously, but key prerequisites for restoring American democracy.

***

Here’s CBS News’s Edward R. Murrow in 1954, criticizing Senator Joe McCarthy — and criticizing America for allowing McCarthy’s witch hunt. Would today’s CBS News have allowed Murrow to say this on the air?

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Robert Reich is an emeritus professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/
Robert Reich's new memoir, Coming Up Short, can be found wherever you buy books. You can also support local bookstores nationally by ordering the book at bookshop.org.

That eerie sound you’re hearing is the First Amendment falling

One of the largest mergers in media history was approved Thursday by the FCC — an $8 billion marriage between Paramount and Skydance Media.

This was epic not as a business story but as a broadside against democracy. The agency established in 1934 as an independent honest broker was deployed as a weapon of domestic war by President Donald Trump.

Like any major merger, this one had twists and turns and complexities. This one had more than its share, as The New York Times reported:

“In recent weeks, Paramount has been engulfed in turmoil stemming from the company’s strained relationship with the Trump administration. The company paid $16 million this month to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump. Critics — including CBS’s ‘Late Night’ host, Stephen Colbert — said the settlement was effectively a payoff to secure approval from the Trump administration, claims the company flatly rejected.”

In the end, however, the drama was dwarfed by an unprecedented, naked assault on a national media establishment that Trump has long slandered as “the enemy of the people.” And in true authoritarian form, the Leader’s will was executed by a shameless lackey — FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who tweeted:

“President Trump took on the legacy national media. He smashed the facade that they — and their Hollywood and New York execs — get to control the narrative. President Trump is now stacking up the wins with more to come.”

Such servile sycophancy from an FCC chairman is certainly without precedent in the independent agency’s 91-year history. But so is having the chair’s role filled by a bootlicker who co-authored Project 2025’s section on the FCC.

In Trump II, it’s barely a speed bump on the road to dictatorship.

The FCC’s 2-1 decision was put in its place by the lone dissenter and Democrat on the panel, Commissioner Anna Gomez:

“After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions.

In an unprecedented move, this once-independent FCC used its vast power to pressure Paramount to broker a private legal settlement and further erode press freedom. Once again, this agency is undermining legitimate efforts to combat discrimination and expand opportunity by overstepping its authority and intervening in employment matters reserved for other government entities with proper jurisdiction on these issues.

Even more alarming, it is now imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law.”

That eerie sound you’re hearing is the crumbling of the First Amendment. As I wrote here, the CBS capitulation to autocracy will go down as one of the most cowardly and damaging surrenders in American media history.

Tempting as it might be to blame it all on Trump, the ultimate culprit in the story is a media giant willing to sell its soul to an extortionist.

And as Commandant Carr put it so bluntly, there’s more to come.

'Liars on notice!' Trump issues ominous threat as he collects millions in settlement

U.S. President Donald Trump took to social media Tuesday to rub salt in the wounds of CBS News by announcing he has now received the $16 million settlement amount agreed to earlier this month.

"BREAKING NEWS!" the president wrote. "We have just achieved a BIG AND IMPORTANT WIN in our Historic Lawsuit against 60 Minutes, CBS, and Paramount. Just like ABC and George Slopadopoulos, CBS and its Corporate Owners knew that they defrauded the American People, and were desperate to settle."

Trump sued "60 Minutes" over an October interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris that Trump claimed was edited "completely and corruptly" to change Harris's answers.

The settlement was seen as a way to appease Trump during Paramount's $28 billion merger with Skydance, which required sign-off by the Federal Communications Commission. Political satirist Stephen Colbert called the deal "a big fat bribe," and was fired shortly thereafter.

Trump's post continued, "Paramount/CBS/60 Minutes have today paid $16 Million Dollars in settlement, and we also anticipate receiving $20 Million Dollars more from the new Owners, in Advertising, PSAs, or similar Programming, for a total of over $36 Million Dollars."

Trump called the settlement "another in a long line of VICTORIES over the Fake News Media, who we are holding to account for their widespread fraud and deceit." He then threatened other outlets he has beef with, including The Wall Street Journal, which recently published a story about Jeffrey Epstein that he tried to quash. Trump filed a $10 billion suit against WSJ and owner Rupert Murdoch.

"The Failing New York Times, The Washington Post, MSDNC, CNN, and all other Mainstream Media Liars, are ON NOTICE that the days of them being allowed to deceive the American People are OVER. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

These people were meant to hold Trump to account. They are utterly failing to do so

The President of the United States posted a FAKE VIDEO TO THE ENTIRE WORLD Sunday night, of a kneeling Barack Obama being placed in handcuffs, and we are supposed to go along like it is just another day in America.

This has got to stop, before we wake up one day soon to find it is already too late.

Our working press has so completely lost the thread right now it would be laughable if it wasn't so damn dangerous and disgusting.

The same media that made a meal, and regularly dined off, the America-loving Joe Biden’s allegedly declining cognitive skills during the bulk of his term in office, still can’t bring itself to accurately report on the most dangerous and corrupt person in U.S. history, the America-attacking, Donald Trump.

In fact, it might even be worse than that, because from here it looks like many in the Fourth Estate have completely surrendered to the gruesome man, who already spurred the most violent assault on our Capitol since 1814, and then did nothing but root for its success for three terrifying hours.

Our country is hanging by a thread.

You know it, I know it, and hundreds of millions of people around the world know it, yet our media is still treating it all like we are in the bottom of the seventh inning of some baseball game.

Rather than taking a deep, damn collective breath, and assessing just how rotten a job they are doing reporting on the most significant news story since the Civil War, our media seem more interested in cashing in on the crimes of the century.

When dark places like CBS News aren’t filling their bottomless pockets by intentionally dumbing down their “news” product, they are bowing to the sickening king, and helping him fill his.

This isn’t the first time I’ve raised this alarm, and won’t be the last. I know I am hardly alone, and can see you nodding in sad agreement as you read these furious words, but every now and then I need to take a breath and scream out loud that THIS IS NOT HOW JOURNALISM IS SUPPOSED TO WORK, DAMMIT.

This is one of those days.

HOW, are there STILL not entire news desks in our major media hubs devoted to nothing but this relentless attack on America? HOW isn’t currying favor with fascists across the globe, while punishing democratic leaders, not a 24/7, all-points bulletin?

World wars have started this way, for crying out loud.

And as I’ve pointed out many times, if we lose this war — and right now we are being pummeled by this grotesque administration and its slimy Republican Orcs — the first thing to go will be our editorial independence in this country.

So rather than using the skills and news sense they are taught as journalists to defend this once-honorable profession by simply accurately reporting on this dangerous attack, they are going out of their way to aid and abet it.

How bad is it?

Well, The New York Times decided to lead its front page this morning paying homage to the arsonist, instead of reporting on the horrific damage he’s done with his nuclear-powered blowtorch:

It’s bad enough the Times decided to lead their paper with an “analysis” piece rather than the gory facts. But it gets worse — much worse — when they treat it all like some “unifying” conquest by the sickening Trump as he heroically pulls his revolting base together to keep up their attack on as many innocent human beings as possible in this country.

I guess they figure since they have already normalized caging human beings in alligator-infested swamps where they are forced to eat like dogs, and swiping healthcare from millions so they can slowly die … there’s no reason to make a big deal about a president spending his time in office sharing disgusting, fascist videos that are so clearly designed to tap into his voters’ most base and racist instincts.

The video that the communication staff (Stephen Miller) eagerly cobbled together for Trump shows Obama in an orange jumpsuit pacing in a cell. I will not be sharing the video here, but if you wander off into any of the likely dark corners of the Internet (or Fox News), you can find it.

And if you are saying he did this as a distraction from this slowly developing Jeffrey Epstein story, then you need to clean out your brain, and open your eyes, because we are long past the distraction stages of this active fascist takeover, and knee-deep in all the carnage.

Stop normalizing any of it, just because you and our damn media can’t keep up with all of it.

Trump is in a steady mental and physical decline, and is doing everything he can to drag America through the sewer and to hell with him.

Our mainstream media doesn’t need to follow him there, but they do need to find some high ground, and start reporting on it with some damn urgency for God’s sake.

(D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.)

'Trying to reinstate invasion!' MAGA whines as Trump dealt another court loss

MAGA adherents have taken to social media to proclaim that the federal judge who ruled against the Trump administration's attempts to stifle asylum-seekers should simply be ignored.

U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled in favor of 13 individuals seeking asylum, as well as three immigrant rights groups that challenged Trump's executive order suspending U.S. asylum law.

"In his decision, Moss ruled that neither the Immigration and Nationality Act nor the Constitution give the president and administration officials 'the sweeping authority' asserted in his proclamation," CBS News reported.

Top White House aide and architect of Trump's deportation program Stephen Miller posted, "To try to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling on nationwide injunctions a marxist judge has declared that all potential FUTURE illegal aliens on foreign soil (eg a large portion of planet earth) are part of a protected global 'class' entitled to admission into the United States."

Far from simply expressing their opposition to the ruling, MAGA took to social media to demand that the judge's opinion be discounted altogether.

Eric Daugherty with Florida's Voice News posted, "Federal judge says President Trump needs to RE-OPEN the border for 'asylum seekers' - POLITICO WTF? A JUDGE is trying to REINSTATE INVASION! Do not listen to this ruling AT ALL!"

Two MAGA commentators, @GuntherEagleman and @MrPitbull07 wrote, simply, "Ignore the judge."

Others commented on the recent Supreme Court decision blocking universal injunctions, with The Conservative Alternative writing, "The Supreme Court just ruled 6-3 that these universal injunctions don't hold legal authority. Trump needs to ignore every order that doesn't come from the Supreme Court itself."

Radio host Cash Loren posted, "Ignore that commie Judge. SCOTUS has already ruled they don't have the authority."

SeekingTruth took a more drastic approach, writing, "Send in the FBI or, better yet, the military police and charge the insurrectionist judge with treason and insurrection. Lock him up in a military prison while awaiting trial."

'Chill of blizzard proportions': Bar Association takes Trump to court

The American Bar Association, which boasts hundreds of thousands of attorney members, is fighting back against the Trump administration's targeting of law firms and attorneys that have run afoul of the president, according to CBS News.

Justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane posted the news to X on Monday, writing, "American Bar Assoc. files civil suit vs. Trump Admin. seeking court order that Trump's executive orders targeting attorneys & firms are UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

"Suit: Trump orders stripping attorneys of security clearances & targeting firms are govt-endorsed 'blacklist.'"

MacFarlane quoted the 93-page filing, citing the chilling effect the orders are having on litigation across the country.

“Because the threat that the President will continue to issue potentially devastating executive orders against law firms who do not 'behave' remains urgent and outstanding—and because it is not merely a threat but a proven pattern—this chill 'of blizzard proportions' continues to grip most of the top law firms and lawyers in the country,” MacFarlane wrote.

Shortly after taking office, Trump began issuing "a flurry of actions and executive orders against law firms he deemed as dishonest and engaging in litigation and conduct he declared was detrimental to American interests," according to the Free Speech Center. By the end of March, the president had "targeted five large law firms, moving to terminate federal government contracts with them, limiting them from entering federal buildings and even in some cases barring interaction by federal employees with them."

The New York Times reported Monday, "The handful of notable firms that were targeted by the president for punishment but chose to fight have uniformly won. Nine others have nonetheless pledged almost $1 billion in free legal work."

The article quoted a Cornell Law School professor saying the Trump administration's attorneys "knew that these were losing positions from the beginning and were not actually hoping to win in court, but rather to intimidate firms into settling, as many firms did."

Professor W. Bradley Wendel added that it's not surprising the administration isn't appealing the losses, "because I don’t think they ever thought these were serious positions.”