| Nowhere has this been more evident than at CBS News. For the entirety of Trump’s second term, its parent company, Paramount, has been involved in a messy sale. Its eventual buyer — David Ellison — is close to Trump and, more importantly, needed the Trump administration’s approval to complete the deal. Trump doesn’t care who owns Paramount’s movie division, but he cares deeply about how he is covered in the media. Conveniently for him, Ellison is focused on the entertainment assets and has little interest in the news division. CBS News has consequently been placed under the control of Bari Weiss, a conservative commentator and founder of The Free Press, and is being remade to be more conservative and friendly to the Trump administration. For the most part, journalists at CBS News have stayed silent. So too have those at CNN, which will also be owned by Ellison once the deal closes. CNN had already begun pivoting away from its critical coverage of Trump before the sale. Once Ellison owns the network, it will almost certainly follow CBS News in becoming a more avowedly pro-Trump outlet. Pelley’s story is, in many ways, the mirror image of what I experienced. Just as a handful of lawyers refused to be silenced when Trump came after the legal profession, a few journalists are now willing to stand tall in the face of this assault on a free press. Pelley is one of them. At a meeting yesterday with the new head of 60 Minutes, Pelley let loose. He accused Weiss of “murdering ’60 Minutes.'” More importantly, he made clear it was intentional: “She was brought in to kill it — and she’s doing exactly that.” Pelley is right. The Paramount deal was straightforward: Ellison gets Paramount and the entertainment assets he wants, and Trump gets a neutered CBS News. Killing “60 Minutes” is simply one part of that bargain. I suspect that Pelley woke up today to the same reaction I did when I appeared on his show — plenty of praise, some criticism, and mostly frightened silence from his peers. Democracy will not survive the next two and a half years without more people willing to do what Scott Pelley just did. But the prospects of that happening within our large institutions are dim. I left Big Law in 2021 and started a law firm that is now litigating 87 voting and election cases in 43 states. As lawyers, we are not afraid. We will never back down. That same commitment is what drives Democracy Docket. I created it in 2020 to be an unapologetically pro-democracy news outlet — one with no corporate owners and no private equity or venture capital investors. It relies on subscribers like you to help it thrive. Unlike the legacy outlets retreating under pressure, Democracy Docket cannot be bullied by this administration or any corporate overlord. But to truly fill the void their retreat has created, it needs to grow in size and scale — and fast. If you can afford to become a premium member, please consider doing so today. It will help Democracy Docket expand its coverage and reach as we head toward the 2026 midterm elections. If you can’t, consider sharing this email with a friend or family member who might be interested in joining our more than 400,000 free subscribers. Your support, in any form, helps the team at Democracy Docket speak out, stand tall and fight back. |
