Partners

 "The BBC's US partner, CBS News" has been a phrase increasingly peppering BBC News output, as Trump maintains his almost daily stranglehold on the international agenda, and the BBC carries more and more detailed US coverage. The partnership looked like a classy deal in 2017, when first struck - CBS has Ed Murrow and Walter Cronkite in its history - but now there's anxiety.  Has the BBC backed the right horse for this partnership, as CBS News moves into the control of a new owner ? 

David Ellison, 42, is the boss of Skydance Media, about to control Paramount Studios by a sort of reverse takeover, costing an estimated $8 billion. Shari Redstone, 71, of Paramount, might get $2bn for what was once valued at $20 billion.  

Caught up in grinding wheels of this deal is Paramount's CBS News. It is currently in third place in the rankings for weekday evening news bulletins, behind ABC and NBC. But its Sunday current affairs show, 60 Minutes remains the 'most watched' of the genre, averaging over 8m viewers for each edition. 

Trump filed a lawsuit last October, alleging the network had deceptively edited an interview on  60 Minutes with his rival Kamala Harris. He chose a court in northern Texas, and asked for $10m in damages, claiming “To paper over Kamala’s ‘word salad’ weakness, CBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news”. 

Interviewer Bill Whitaker asked Harris about the Biden administration's relationship with Israel. One clip was used on CBS's Face the Nation and a different one on 60 Minutes. Trump claimed Harris's "word salad" answer had been deceptively edited in one version. CBS said it simply edited Harris's answer for time, in accordance with standard practice; the claim was 'without merit'. 

But as the Skydance/Paramount on-off merger progressed, the Paramount view of 'without merit' moved into moves for a mediated deal, away from the courts. Trump up his claim to $20m; Redstone appeared to offer $15m, and seems to have settled at $16m.  There've been reports that Ellison contributed a side deal of future 'public service' advertising slots going to Trump-favoured causes. There's no formal apology, and the money will not go 'directly or indirectly' to Trump, but to his Presidential Library, presumably to be built at the 19th at Mar-a-Lago. 

During this 'mediation', CBS News lost 60 Minutes editor Bill Owens and CBS News President Wendy McMahon, both firmly in the 'without merit' camp. 

So, back to new boss David Ellison. Dad and Oracle Corporation founder Larry is firmly MAGA; Trump believes he's the power behind the takeover. David was taught to fly at 13, and worked for Oracle, but had tries at acting, before film production. He's believed to care more about sport than news, and may not smile on the bottom line of CBS News' running costs. 

Amongst US journalists, the historic reputation of CBS News has been tarnished by giving way to a bullying President and the Yankee Dollar. Trump's legal team said “With this record settlement, President Donald J. Trump delivers another win for the American people as he, once again, holds the Fake News media accountable for their wrongdoing and deceit. CBS and Paramount Global realized the strength of this historic case and had no choice but to settle,”