Variety: Skydance, Paramount Urge FCC to Reject ‘Baseless’ Petition by Conservative Group Seeking Conditions to Address CBS News’ Alleged ‘Ideological Bias and News Manipulation’
Skydance Media and Paramount Global have said objections filed with the FCC over their planned merger “lack merit” and “seek relief that raises constitutional concerns” — and the companies have formally asked the agency to dismiss them.
In particular, Skydance and Paramount said a petition by the Center for American Rights, a conservative public-interest law firm, made “baseless claims” in its petition to the FCC seeking to add conditions to the agency’s transfer of CBS station licenses to the newly merged entity. The Center for American Rights’ Dec. 16 filing objected to CBS’s supposed “track record of ideological bias and news manipulation” and alleged CBS “has apparently engaged in illegal racial quotas for its hiring.” The group also raised concerns about the potential for “undue foreign influence from China” on the merged Skydance-Paramount, citing the minority interest in Skydance held by Chinese company Tencent Holdings.
The Center for American Rights’ petition asked the FCC to condition its grant of approval of the Skydance-Paramount merger on “specific commitments by the new corporation to address these issues, and to place the approval on a probationary status for an appropriate period of years until compliance with the conditions is evident.”
“The Commission must press the owners of New Paramount to commit to viewpoint diversity, with real benchmarks and expectations,” the group said in its petition. The Center for American Rights cited findings by conservative watchdog group Media Research Center that from July 21 (when President Biden dropped out of the race) through Sept. 27, “CBS Evening News” and “CBS Weekend News” coverage of VP Kamala Harris was allegedly 84% positive while coverage of Donald Trump “has been lopsidedly negative (79%).”