OPINION: New York’s CBS / Paramount Should Stand Up For First Amendment, Free Press

OPINION: New York’s CBS / Paramount Should Stand Up For First Amendment, Free Press

Sanders Calls on CBS Owner to Stand Up for First Amendment, Not Surrender to Trump 

Editor’s note: We have also recently reported on the issues facing Harvard University, who is fighting back against the actions taken against it by the current administration.  These have included requesting that the IRS revoke its tax-exempt status, which would have disastrous consequences for the future of Harvard and its ability to provide an education to those who are not from wealth and privilege.  Due to the receipt of grants and donations from former students and others who support its mission, which can currently serve as a write-off to offset income due to its tax status,  the university is able to provide scholarships to lower income students who would otherwise qualify to attend on the basis of meeting application requirements for admission. Harvard and similar universities also run research studies on their campuses which have kept America on the cutting edge of science for decades. 

Regarding the CBS News case, according to Axios, threats have been made against the New York Times over alleged election interference: “President Trump on Wednesday said the New York Times should be held liable for “interference” in his ongoing lawsuit against CBS News.”

WASHINGTON – As President Trump continues his attempts to intimidate the media and those who are critical of him, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) today warned Paramount Global Chair Shari Redstone not to capitulate to Trump.

Lawyers for Trump and Paramount, the parent of CBS News, have begun mediation over a lawsuit brought by Trump that accuses ’60 Minutes’ of deceptively editing an interview with Kamala Harris. Legal experts have called the suit baseless and an easy victory for CBS. But Paramount is entering the talks prepared to make a deal. It has been reported that Shari Redstone, the company’s controlling shareholder, is considering settling with Trump in return for his administration’s approval of Paramount’s $8 billion sale to Skydance.

“This lawsuit is an attack on the United States Constitution and the First Amendment. It has absolutely no merit and it cannot stand,” Sanders and the senators wrote. “In the United States of America, presidents do not get to punish or censor the media for criticizing them. Freedom of the press is what sets us apart from tin pot dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.”

It was also reported that Redstone asked the CEO of CBS to “delay sensitive stories about Trump” until the Skydance merger was completed. If the Skydance merger is approved, the Redstone family could gain up to $2.4 billion.

“Rewarding Trump with tens of millions of dollars for filing this bogus lawsuit will not cause him to back down on his war against the media and a free press. It will only embolden him to shakedown, extort, and silence CBS and other media outlets that have the courage to report about issues that Trump may not like,” the senators continue. “We urge you and the board of directors at Paramount to make it clear to President Trump today that Paramount will not surrender to his attack on the First Amendment.”

Sanders and the senators conclude: “Stand up for freedom of the press and our democracy. Do not capitulate to this dangerous move to authoritarianism.”

Read the text of the letter here.

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