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A law professor cited by CBS News called<\/a> Donald Trump\u2019s $10 billion lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes<\/em> interview with Kamala Harris \u201c…so ill grounded that it comes close to being sanctionable as frivolous.\u201d But now, the The Wall Street Journal<\/em><\/a> reports that executives at CBS\u2019 parent company, Paramount Global, have discussed settling the suit while \u201cgaming out options to reduce friction with the incoming administration\u201d ahead of a government review of its merger with Skydance<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The paper reports that incoming FCC chairman<\/a> and censor-in-chief<\/a> Brendan Carr warned execs last year that presidential dissatisfaction with CBS News will make a review tougher. He\u2019s also publicly displayed that view, saying during a Fox News interview<\/a> in November, \u201c…CBS has a transaction before the FCC. I\u2019m pretty confident that news distortion complaint over the CBS 60 Minutes transcript is something that is likely to arise in the context of the FCC\u2019s review of that transaction.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The lawsuit<\/a> claims that in airing two differently edited versions of Harris\u2019 response to a question about the war in Gaza, \u201cCBS used its national platform on 60 Minutes to cross the line from the exercise of judgment in reporting to deceitful, deceptive manipulation of news.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n But instead of mounting a defense of free speech against a lawsuit and Trump\u2019s accusations that the network said were false and completely without merit, Paramount is considering following the example of Disney and tech oligarchs who will line up at the inauguration like Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The ABC News owner agreed to pay $15 million<\/a> to Trump\u2019s presidential foundation and museum to settle a defamation lawsuit in December. Zuckerberg sharply redirected Meta\u2019s policies to the right while meeting with Trump, reportedly<\/a> \u201cin part to mediate a lawsuit Trump brought against Facebook and Zuckerberg in 2021 over the platform\u2019s suspension of Trump\u2019s account after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n