One of the largest mergers in media history was approved Thursday by the FCC — an $8 billion marriage between Paramount and Skydance Media.
This was epic not as a business story but as a broadside against democracy. The agency established in 1934 as an independent honest broker was deployed as a weapon of domestic war by President Donald Trump.
Like any major merger, this one had twists and turns and complexities. This one had more than its share, as The New York Times reported:
“In recent weeks, Paramount has been engulfed in turmoil stemming from the company’s strained relationship with the Trump administration. The company paid $16 million this month to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump. Critics — including CBS’s ‘Late Night’ host, Stephen Colbert — said the settlement was effectively a payoff to secure approval from the Trump administration, claims the company flatly rejected.”
In the end, however, the drama was dwarfed by an unprecedented, naked assault on a national media establishment that Trump has long slandered as “the enemy of the people.” And in true authoritarian form, the Leader’s will was executed by a shameless lackey — FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who tweeted:
“President Trump took on the legacy national media. He smashed the facade that they — and their Hollywood and New York execs — get to control the narrative. President Trump is now stacking up the wins with more to come.”
Such servile sycophancy from an FCC chairman is certainly without precedent in the independent agency’s 91-year history. But so is having the chair’s role filled by a bootlicker who co-authored Project 2025’s section on the FCC.
In Trump II, it’s barely a speed bump on the road to dictatorship.
The FCC’s 2-1 decision was put in its place by the lone dissenter and Democrat on the panel, Commissioner Anna Gomez:
“After months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted. Unfortunately, it is the American public who will ultimately pay the price for its actions.
In an unprecedented move, this once-independent FCC used its vast power to pressure Paramount to broker a private legal settlement and further erode press freedom. Once again, this agency is undermining legitimate efforts to combat discrimination and expand opportunity by overstepping its authority and intervening in employment matters reserved for other government entities with proper jurisdiction on these issues.
Even more alarming, it is now imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law.”
That eerie sound you’re hearing is the crumbling of the First Amendment. As I wrote here, the CBS capitulation to autocracy will go down as one of the most cowardly and damaging surrenders in American media history.
Tempting as it might be to blame it all on Trump, the ultimate culprit in the story is a media giant willing to sell its soul to an extortionist.
And as Commandant Carr put it so bluntly, there’s more to come.