It’s time for CBS, ABC and FOX to just report the news, instead of creating it

There should be national public outcry and CBS TV news should be ashamed.

CBS parent company Paramount on July 1 settled a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump over an interview broadcast in October 2024 claiming false or misleading coverage.

Paramount/CBS said it would pay $16 million to settle the suit with the money allocated to Trump’s future presidential library, and not paid to Trump “directly or indirectly.”

“The settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret,” the company statement said, but it might as well have. CBS got caught with its Democrat flag flying. Some masters of spinning political lies got caught.

The settlement means that CBS officials did not think they could win the lawsuit that alleged the TV network cut and spliced video to change/improve the answers that Democrat President hopeful Kamala Harris gave CBS in an interview aired before the election - with the intent of helping the Democrats.

CBS - one of the most trusted TV news outlets - since TV became a thing in the 1950s - did that. CBS chose propaganda to make Harris look/sound more presidential over truthful reporting. CBS lied to the American people - its audience.

It was an example of CBS believing that its actions were above the law and a justifiable means to an ends - with the ends being to keep Trump from being elected. Anything - including deception - to keep Trump from being elected was worth it to CBS brass.

Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against CBS in October, alleging the network deceptively edited an interview that aired on its “60 Minutes” news program with then-Vice President Harris to “tip the scales in favor of the Democratic Party” in the presidential election, in which she was the Democratic nominee.

In an amended complaint filed in February, Trump bumped his claim for damages to $20 billion. CBS subsequently aired two versions of the Harris interview in which she appears to give different answers to the same question about the Israel-Hamas war, according to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Texas.

CBS initially said the lawsuit was “completely without merit” and had asked a judge to dismiss the case.

Trump’s legal team welcomed the settlement. “With this record settlement, President Trump delivered another win for the American people,” a spokesperson said.

It is a win for the American people because TV networks should not be allowed to ever alter/manipulate statements made by presidential candidates.

The fact that no one from CBS was fired over the lawsuit shows that the owners of CBS agreed with the deceptive tactics.

Paramount/CBS TV said it also agreed that “60 Minutes” would release transcripts of interviews with future presidential candidates after they aired, subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.

The Paramount/CBS settlement follows a decision by Walt Disney-owned ABC News to settle a defamation case also brought by Trump.

As part of that settlement, which was made public on Dec. 14, 2024, ABC News donated $15 million to Trump’s presidential library and publicly apologized for comments by anchor George Stephanopoulos, who inaccurately said Trump had been found liable for rape.

It also follows another settlement, by Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms, which on Jan. 29 said it had agreed to pay about $25 million to settle a lawsuit also by Trump over the company’s suspension of his accounts after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

FOX News also settled a lawsuit for $787.5 million, paying the Dominion Voting Machine company.

Dominion claimed the network knowingly broadcast claims that Dominion voting machines were used to rig the 2020 election against Trump.

The FOX News settlement did not include an admission of wrongdoing or an apology.

Lawsuits and settlements like these must continue until the owners of the big national newspapers and TV networks clean up their acts and return to reporting the news - instead of trying to create/invent the news.

The age of selling out good journalism for public relations/advertising propaganda must end.

Not every wronged politician has the financial resources to take on media giants like CBS, ABC and FOX.

If CBS and ABC will do this to Trump, and FOX News will do it, too, then they will do it again in the future unless they are stopped. Public apologies should be added to the punishments.