Today. Donald Trump made a claim that should chill every American who still believes in a free press: that he will receive $20 million worth of advertising and programming from the future owner of CBS—just days after the network canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, one of the few late-night shows consistently critical of him.
This follows a $16 million settlement Trump reached with Paramount, CBS’s parent company, over a pre-election 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Trump accused CBS of “misleading editing.” Legal experts widely dismissed the lawsuit as baseless, and CBS initially described it as “completely without merit.” But they settled anyway—while Paramount is in the middle of an $8 billion sale to Skydance Media, a deal that hinges on government approval.
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This follows a $16 million settlement Trump reached with Paramount, CBS’s parent company, over a pre-election 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Trump accused CBS of “misleading editing.” Legal experts widely dismissed the lawsuit as baseless, and CBS initially described it as “completely without merit.” But they settled anyway—while Paramount is in the middle of an $8 billion sale to Skydance Media, a deal that hinges on government approval.
So let’s be clear about what this means: a major media conglomerate paid Trump $16 million after he attacked their journalism. Then, with regulatory approval for their sale still hanging in the balance, the network’s prospective new owner is—according to Trump—poised to shower him with another $20 million in “advertising” and “programming.”
This is not just a payoff. This is not just appeasement. This is how authoritarianism metastasizes inside corporate media. A network that once helped define American journalism is, if Trump’s claims are to be believed, becoming his propaganda partner in waiting.
You don’t need to love CBS or Colbert to be disturbed by this. What matters is that journalism is being squeezed out—by billionaires, by political pressure, by fear of regulatory retribution. This is how truth dies in silence. This is how satire disappears from the airwaves. This is how $36 million in hush and hype money buys the soul of American media.
This is happening now. And if you think it can’t get worse, just wait. Unless we fight for journalism that fights for us, we’re going to lose it entirely.
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