Jon Stewart and Steve Kroft break Paramount’s Trump settlement
In this week of “The Daily Show”, host Jon Stewart was accompanied by journalist Steve Kroft to discuss Paramount’s $ 16 million settlement with Donald Trump, a deal the former “60 minutes” correspondent called “Tribute to the King”.
Stewart opened the interview by asking KROFT what it meant for a news organization such as “60 minutes” to pay such a large arrangement to the president and offering the word “devastating” as a descriptor for internal attitudes. Kroft agreed that ‘devastating’ was a ‘good word’ for the situation.
“I think there is a lot of fear,” said Kroft. “Fear of losing their job, fear of what happens to the country, fear of losing the first amendment. All those things.”
When asked why he thinks Paramount has paid the settlement, the question is causing the question and stated that “a few congressmen think it was bribery.” Later he let his own thoughts become known and the deal called ‘a Shakedown’.
“That’s what I call it,” he added. “Some people call it extortion.”
He later said that many in the journalistic community feel in the same way about the decision of Paramount to pay.
“It’s not just me or 60 minutes” or you think it’s a shakedown, “said Kroft. “It is almost every reporter who has been looked at this case and said,” This is ridiculous. It will be thrown out of a court where it goes before. ” Except maybe one in Amarillo, [Texas]And they brought the suit with that. ‘
When asked how the media should respond to such a historical development, Kroft took the opportunity to say that Trump did not get everything he wanted from the Paramount Camp.
“This lawsuit, the only thing they didn’t get, Trump did not get, he did not get an apology and he had pushed very hard,” he said. “He demanded an apology and wanted CBS to admit that it had made a mistake so that he could use it [them] And the credibility of the program and the network erode. But he didn’t understand, and that is important. “
Trump has filed a lawsuit against Paramount and CBS days before the 2024 presidential elections. In it he claimed that an interview of ’60 minutes’ with former vice-president Kamala Harris, the former presidential opponent of Trump, has violated a consumer for consumer protection and failed voters. He originally asked for $ 10 billion compensation, but then increased it to $ 20 billion in an amendment. Trump thought the edited interview Harris looked “more presidential” and claimed that it was “the biggest employment scandal in history !!!”
All against the background of Paramount’s Deal of $ 8 billion with Skydance, who is waiting for approval of the FCC controlled by Trump, the studio agreed to pay the president $ 16 million instead of fighting a lawsuit they had previously beaten as ‘meritless’.
View the entire interview from Stewart with Kroft below.
