Media bias denial is a standard corporate practice, even in courts of law. Variety writer Todd Spangler reported that 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 partnership.
The Center filed an objection in December citing CBS’s “track record of ideological bias and news manipulation” and alleged CBS “has apparently engaged in illegal racial quotas for its hiring.”
Variety called the track record of CBS News bias "supposed." Isn't it funny when objective phrasing is used about a lack of objectivity? In the fall campaign, CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell routinely uncorked editorials in favor of the Democrat spin.
“The Commission must press the owners of New Paramount to commit to viewpoint diversity, with real benchmarks and expectations,” the Center said in its petition. In their January 2 filing with the FCC, the legal team for Skydance and Paramount argued “The ‘viewpoint neutrality’ condition sought by the Center would improperly encroach on broadcasters’ editorial discretion and is squarely foreclosed by the First Amendment and Supreme Court precedent.”
The FCC used to have an "equal time" provision and a "Fairness Doctrine" for broadcast news, but they were rarely enforced. Media bias has been omnipresent at CBS since the Edward R. Murrow days.
We have always laid out the evidence. The Center's brief cited a Rich Noyes NewsBusters study on CBS tilt before the vice-presidential debate:
“During the two months from July 21 (when President Biden left the race) through September 27, [on CBS Evening News and CBS Weekend News]. . . coverage of Vice President Kamala Harris has been extremely positive (84%), while coverage of former President Donald Trump has been lopsidedly negative (79%). . . . While there was far less discussion of the vice presidential candidates, we found the same wild imbalance: 89% positive coverage for the Democrat Walz, vs. 89% negative coverage for the Republican Vance.”
The Center then noted conservative complaints that the CBS moderators of that debate had the effect of a three-to-one debate with Vance.
One of Skydance’s major investors is Tencent Holdings Ltd., a Chinese company affiliated with the Communist Party. This filing noted that Skydance is the production company behind Top Gun: Maverick, which it coproduced with Paramount. Controversy followed when the film edited out Japanese and Taiwanese patches to please the Chinese.
“As a threshold matter, the Center’s concerns about viewpoint diversity and alleged bias or manipulation are manifestly not transaction-specific,” said the Skydance-Paramount lawyers. The Center for American Rights “cannot be deemed a party in interest in this proceeding.” The audience is not a "party of interest" when an American broadcaster merges with a Chinese conglomerate.