CBS in turmoil as US media feels pressure under Trump

WASHINGTON - CBS, a mainstay of the broadcast television landscape, has been rattled by editorial changes that insiders fear are tied to US President Donald Trump’s influence, as concerns grow about a broader erosion of media independence in the United States.

Since CBS in mid-2025 became a part of Paramount Skydance, which is headed by Mr Trump ally David Ellison, the network has clashed with its star latenight host Stephen Colbert, and seen a raft of journalists resign.

Mr Colbert recently said the network blocked the broadcast of his interview with Texas Democrat James Talarico, who is running to unseat incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn.

Many CBS News journalists – including top producers of the flagship news magazine “60 Minutes” – have quit while airing complaints of interference in their editorial independence at the company.

“This is yet another troubling example of corporate capitulation in the face of this Administration’s broader campaign to censor and control speech,” broadcast regulator Anna Gomez said in a statement.

Of the three current commissioners at the FCC, the government agency that regulates the airwaves, Ms Gomez is the only one not appointed by Mr Trump.

New CBS leadership was brought in at the end of 2025, with the appointment of Ms Bari Weiss – a longstanding critic of progressive politics – as Editor in Chief.

Ms Weiss sparked blowback with her first decisions at the helm of the newsroom, which included yanking a report on the

Trump administration’s anti-immigrant crackdown

hours before it was scheduled to broadcast.

It was later aired with a revised introduction.

During that time, many journalists chose to leave the CBS newsroom – once home to famed US journalists Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow and a long reputation for excellence in American journalism.

Several current and former CBS journalists declined to comment to AFP, even anonymously, pointing to a climate of fear.

The new approach under Mr Ellison at CBS is “primarily to appease or curry favour with the Trump administration in anticipation for an aspiring acquisition of Warner Brothers discovery,” Professor Victor Pickard, a media policy and political economy expert at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP.

The 2025 deal for Skydance to takeover Paramount, CBS’s parent company, included the unprecedented promise that the organisation would “root out bias that has undermined trust,” FCC chairman Brendan Carr said.

Before the deal was inked, Paramount also agreed to pay US$16 million (S$20.27 million) in response to Mr Trump’s complaint over CBS’s coverage of the election.

Mr Colbert described that as “a big fat bribe.”

But Mr Trump brushed off such allegations, and called the acquisition “the greatest thing that’s happened in a long time to a free and open and good press.”

‘Real danger’

Now the journalists at CNN are holding their breath, as their network has also been purchased by Skydance through its upcoming acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.

Long targeted by Mr Trump for its reporting, CNN is a well recognised international brand, even though its ratings in the US lag behind Fox News.

“We can expect that the Ellisons will do to CNN exactly what they are doing to CBS – cut down on actual journalism, expand on right wing commentary, and bring the news organization in line with the Trump administration‘s preferred narratives and talking points,” Prof Pickard said.

University of Minnesota professor Christopher Terry told AFP that audiences can expect a possible alignment of CNN and CBS, reducing the editorial diversity in the current media landscape, while likely inspiring copycat megamergers, to keep pace with the new giant.

“The real danger is the deals that follow because of this deal,” Prof Terry said. AFP