Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy❤
No. of Recommendations: 2
Citing lack of journalistic independence because of Paramount.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/22/business/media/...I've always thought that there should be NO ADS allowed during news programming. That reduces the profit motive greatly because there are no sponsors. No sponsors, and they'll mostly leave the news alone.
No. of Recommendations: 0
I've always thought that there should be NO ADS allowed during news programming.
I don't fully disagree with that. But I also don't think it's the reason the producer resigned. I'm pretty sure that Paramount and CBS were yielding to political pressures from the current administration.
I watch 60 minutes almost every week, and while they haven't been kind to Trump, they haven't been terribly hard hitting, either. It seems like they've been trying to minimize Trump and political stories, choosing a lot of more general interest stories lately. Not that those are bad, mind you. There are things going on in the world that aren't Trump that are interesting to know about.
--Peter
No. of Recommendations: 0
But I also don't think it's the reason the producer resigned.
Not specifically. However, the pressure would be less if the parent company didn't have to worry about advertisers. News should be free from external pressures, breaking the big stories and telling truth to power. Not worried about losing a sponsor.
No. of Recommendations: 4
Finally got a little better info on the situation.
Sherry Redstone owns Paramount, which owns CBS. Paramount is in the midst of a merger which will be worth a bundle to Redstone (even keeping in mind she’s already fabulously wealthy).
But the merger depends on the approval of the FTC (I think - but definitely some piece of the executive administration). And because of the way the current executive considers all of the branches and departments and bureaus to be tools to be used for his personal benefit, Redstone has instructed the news division, including 60 Minutes, to go easy on Trump. She doesn’t want a critical story to get in the way of her making a bundle of money.
So really nothing at all to do with advertisers.
—Peter
