Is Colbert's departure merely a financial decision"?

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Transcript

00:00Building an empire takes decades, destroying it can only take a few years, and sometimes the vandals are in the palace, not outside the gates.

00:09For much of the 20th century, American broadcast television revolved around three networks, NBC, ABC, and CBS.

00:18William S. Paley, CBS's longtime CEO, made sure that his company, the Columbia Broadcasting Service, was a leader among them.

00:27The network was home to Edward R. Murrow, who brought World War II and Europe home to Americans on CBS radio.

00:35After the war, Murrow's reporting played a pivotal role in bringing down Senator Joseph McCarthy.

00:41Walter Cronkite dominated American evenings from his perch at the evening news.

00:46And from the days of Mike Wallace to the more recent era of Leslie Stahl and Scott Paley, 60 Minutes set the standard for long-form television reporting.

00:55Yet CBS's current ownership seems determined to demolish this legacy.

01:00This evening, the network announced plans to end the late show with Stephen Colbert when the host's contract ends next May.

01:07Late-night personalities come and go, but usually that happens when their ratings sag.

01:12Colbert, however, has consistently led competitors in his time slot.

01:17CBS said this was purely a financial decision, made as traditional linear television fades.

01:23Perhaps this is true, but the network that once made Cronkite the most trusted man in America no longer gets the benefit of the doubt.

01:32CBS's owners have made a series of decisions capitulating President Donald Trump,

01:36and the surprise choice to allow Colbert, a consistent, prominent Trump critic, to walk seems like part of that pattern.

01:43One reasonable starting date for the trouble will be 2016.

01:48That was both the year that Trump was first elected president and the year that Sumner Redstone,

01:52the cussed but aging owner of CBS's parent company Paramount, surrendered control to his daughter, Sherry Redstone.

01:59In 2023, Sherry Redstone began seeking a buyer for company, eventually striking a deal in 2024 with Skydance.

02:08The merger requires federal approval.

02:11During the 2024 presidential campaign, 60 Minutes interviewed Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic opponent.

02:18Trump sued CBS, alleging that the network improperly edited her interview, as supposed evidence.

02:25He cited different excerpts of the interview that had aired on different CBS shows.

02:29If CBS was seeking to hide anything, then airing the clips on their network wasn't a very effective way to do it.

02:36He demanded $20 billion, a sum that was preposterous, especially because, as most First Amendment lawyers agreed, the suit had no merit.

02:45But Trump had major leverage.

02:48He won the November presidential election, giving him a role in approving the proposed Skydance-Paramount merger.

02:54During his first term, he'd already demonstrated his willingness to use his approval power to punish political opponents in the media,

03:02unsuccessfully seeking to block the merger of AT&T and Time Warner.

03:06Since the election, CBS has seemed eager to please Trump however it can,

03:10though the company continues to insist the merger has no bearing on its decisions.

03:14The network handed over transcripts of the 60 Minutes interview to Brendan Carr,

03:19the close Trump ally appointed to lead the Federal Communications Commission.

03:24In April, 60 Minutes Chief Bill Owens, a widely respected journalist, stepped down.

03:30It's clear the company is done with me, he told staff during a meeting.

03:34In a memo, he elaborated,

03:37Over the past months, it has become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it,

03:42to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes.

03:46Right for the audience.

03:47Some of the show's reporters, who are not prone to histrionic statements or partisanship,

03:52raise alarms in interviews and speeches.

03:56Early this month, CBS agreed to a $16 million settlement to end Trump's lawsuit.

04:01The agreement doesn't pay Trump directly,

04:04but the network agreed to pay legal fees for him and a co-plaintiff,

04:08and to contribute to Trump's future presidential library.

04:10Trump has stated that the deal also includes unspecified advertising,

04:15reportedly for public service announcements that boost Trump-approved causes.

04:20Paramount denies this.

04:22Now comes Colbert's departure.

04:24If the reasons are truly financial,

04:26one wonders how his salary compares to the money spent to settle a dubious lawsuit.

04:31The president now seems favorably disposed toward the merger.

04:35Last month, he spoke highly of Skydance head David Ellison,

04:39who is the son of Oracle founder and Trump pal Larry Ellison.

04:42Still, the deal has not yet been approved by the FCC.

04:47Paramount and Skydance's executives have demonstrated that they aren't interested in defending CBS's journalism

04:52or its editorial independence,

04:55to the detriment not only of the network's historical reputation,

04:58but also the many excellent journalists still working there.

05:01Journalism, along with Colbert's program,

05:04make up only a small portion of Paramount's portfolio,

05:08and so business executives might view sacrificing them to preserve a deal

05:11as a prudent, if cold-blooded, maneuver.

05:15But the recent experience of another Columbia,

05:17Columbia University,

05:19offers a warning when a sale by the Trump administration,

05:22the university's administration struck a conciliatory stance,

05:27trying to make a deal with the president.

05:29The capitulation only encouraged Trump,

05:31who then sought a judicial decree for oversight of the school.

05:35The two parties are still in talks.

05:37What happened at Columbia is the same thing Trump has done to many other adversaries.

05:42If you give him an inch, he'll take a yard and immediately scheme to grab a mile, too.

05:48Institutions that are willing to sacrifice their values for government's favor

05:51are likely to end up with neither.

05:53Peter

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