#FreedomOfThePress Foundation, a #FirstAmendment group, has said it planned to file a lawsuit on behalf of shareholders against Redstone & the #Paramount board in the event of a settlement with #Trump; the group has retained the prominent litigator Abbe Lowell for its effort.

Paramount is planning to make changes to its board on Wednesday.

The sale of #Paramount would end the Redstone family’s decades-long control of #CBS News & Paramount Pictures & put it in the hands of #DavidEllison, the son of #LarryEllison, a #tech #billionaire who has backed #Trump.

Brendan Carr, the chairman of the #FCC, has said that Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount was not linked to the FCC’s review of the company’s merger w/Skydance. Paramount has also said that the 2 issues were unrelated.

The size of the settlement, $16 million, is the same sum that #ABC News agreed to pay in December to settle a *defamation* case filed by #Trump against the network & one of its anchors, George Stephanopoulos. #Paramount’s board was concerned that paying a higher amount to settle the case could increase the company’s exposure to potential legal actions from shareholders accusing them of #bribery.

But #ShariRedstone, the chair & controlling shareholder of #Paramount, told her board that she favored exploring a #settlement with #Trump. Some executives at the company viewed the president’s lawsuit as a potential hurdle to completing a multibillion-dollar sale of the company to the Hollywood studio Skydance, which requires the Trump administration’s approval.

Many lawyers had dismissed #Trump’s lawsuit as baseless & believed that #CBS would have ultimately prevailed in #court, in part because the network did not report anything factually inaccurate, & the #FirstAmendment gives #publishers wide leeway to determine how to present information.

As part of the settlement, #Paramount said that it had agreed to release written transcripts of future “#60Minutes” interviews with presidential candidates. The company said that the settlement did not include an apology.

The deal is the clearest sign yet that #Trump’s ability to intimidate major American institutions extends to the #media industry.

#Paramount said late Tuesday that it has agreed to pay #Trump $16 million to settle his lawsuit over the editing of an interview on the #CBS News program “#60Minutes,” an extraordinary concession to a sitting president by a major #media organization.

Paramount said its payment includes Trump’s legal fees & costs & that the money, minus the legal fees, will be paid to Trump’s future [nonexistent] presidential library.

…
#Democrats pointed to a surge in Iranians tuning into #RadioFarda, the Persian-language news service funded by the #USAGM. Amid the recent #war between #Israel & #Iran, they argued, the #US should continue to fund #media orgs countering the #misinformation disseminated by Iran & other countries, such as #NorthKorea.

Rep Michael McCaul, #Republican of #Texas, said there were “systemic problems” in the agency, but that it remained necessary around the world.

“We need America’s voice in #Iran right now,” he said. “We need to ensure the Iranian people hear the truth that we do not intend to harm them.”

“#Congress should ask Ms. Lake to provide proof for the mystifying allegations,” Mike Abramowitz, the director of #VoiceOfAmerica, said in a statement. “If #VOA is controlled by the #CCP, then why are they rejoicing at its being shut down?”

#Democrats & some #Republicans voiced concern that in moving to dismantle the global media agency, #Trump was abandoning a useful tool of #SoftPower.

Noncitizens cannot obtain security clearances for viewing #classified info, & NO reporters at the global media agency have such security clearances, said Kate Neeper, a director of strategy who received a layoff notice last week. Some executives may have security clearances to receive #intelligence that would help them protect #reporters who work in war-zones or in countries w/repressive governments, Neeper said.
#law #FreePress #SoftPower #journalism #independence #censorship #AmericanAutocracy

On Wednesday, Lake asked members of #Congress to amend the #laws requiring the existence of #VoiceOfAmerica & its aligned newsrooms, which have sought to fight the #Trump admin’s push to shutter them. She argued that her agency was “unsalvageable” & “a threat to America’s national security,”[?] asserting falsely that its reporters, including foreign nationals, had obtained security clearances, & that it had ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

Lake, the fmr *news*caster #Trump put in charge of the dept that includes the international broadcast network, sent layoff notices last week to all but around 200 reporters & support staff at #VoiceOfAmerica & the parent agency she leads. She has also withheld #funding from other #news orgs that are separate nonprofits but receive federal dollars, such as #RadioFreeEurope / #RadioLiberty & #RadioFreeAsia.