A sea change is on the horizon as Skydance’s $8 billion acquisition of CBS has gained the green light from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC Chairman, Brendan Carr, hinted at the company’s ambitious agenda to confront ingrained bias and chauvinistic DEI policies within the media conglomerate. Carr’s poignant critique of existing news media’s credibility or lack thereof, gives an insight into the motivations that ratified the approval. The need for an overhaul seems imminent as public trust in the national news media dwindles.
The chairman emphasized on Skydance’s written assurance to foster diversity of perceptions spanning across the political and ideological scape within their programming. It’s a rather naive assumption to imagine that this initiative will completely root out the entrenched bias that has cast a shadow on modern news media. Free from bias, serving in public interest, and providing objective coverage is the utopian dream that the media once promised, and Skydance seems eager to revive.
This move, according to Chairman Carr, signifies a considerable leap in the FCC’s larger endeavor to drive out DEI discrimination. The notion of enhancing local news coverage under Skydance’s governance also came under the spotlight. Evidently so, the idea of a media giant amplifying local voices might not be as benevolent as it’s sold to be.
Shifting gears to talk about Paramount’s recent $16 million settlement of a legal dispute with former President Donald Trump. The incident was hinged on the reportedly ill-edited CBS ’60 Minutes’ interview with Kamala Harris, during her run for vice-president. Paramount’s decision to channel the settlement funds to the future presidential library, not Trump himself, sparks a different conversation altogether.
Interestingly, the media corporation skirted around issuing a formal apology. The absence of an apology subtly endorses the insinuations made against CBS and its commitment to unbiased reporting. No wonder, detractors found a field day in underlining the fallacies of the media powerhouse.
Edward Andrew Paltzik, Trump’s legal counsel made headlines, suggesting that the former president suffered ‘mental anguish’ as a result of the botched CBS interview editing. This claim does raise eyebrows considering the resilience exemplified by Trump throughout his term. Unsurprisingly, CBS and Paramount vociferously rejected Trump’s allegations, arguing that no excessive editing was done to elevate Harris’s persona.
In a side note, fans of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ were met with the disappointing news of its cancellation by CBS last week. The network paid glowing tributes to Colbert, stating the comedy show host was ‘irreplaceable’, and that they would be pulling the plug on ‘The Late Show’ franchise in May 2026. The announcement seems to veer off from the path of ingenuity that CBS envisions for its future.
Since taking up the reins from David Letterman in 2014, Colbert has been an integral part of the ‘Late Show’. However, the notion of naming Colbert ‘irreplaceable’ is subject to question, contemplating an abundance of capable and witty younger artists who could potentially fill his shoes.
CBS’s grand statement not only magnified Colbert but also curtailed the chance of other deserving candidates to shine on the global stage. Furthermore, it’s indeed a peculiar decision that CBS announced the show’s termination so prematurely, almost a year before its scheduled shuttering in May.
Lastly, Colbert extended his gratitude to the viewers who had journeyed with the show night after night. Despite an ambivalent sea of ardent fans and bitter critics, the curtain call for ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ seems to reflect CBS’s aspiration for the network’s future.
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