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Paramount Global has pledged to eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion programs as a trade-off to help secure federal approval for its $8-billion merger with Skydance Media.
The move follows hard on its controversial decision to end the long-running Late Show with Stephen Colbert, perceived as a political move to silence a critic of Paramount's decision to settle with Donald Trump who accused it of political bias against him. Three days after Colbert questioned the decision on-air, the show was cancelled.
Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who appeared as a guest on Colbert’s show after the cancellation announcement, wrote on social media: “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”
Paramount's decision to end DEI programs is seen as a further concession to ensure the deal gets FCC approval.
In a letter to Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, Skydance’s general counsel Stephanie Kyoko McKinnon confirmed that “Paramount no longer will maintain an Office of Global Inclusion and will not have any teams or individual roles focused on DEI.”
She also stated that Paramount will remove “references to DEI in its public messaging, including on its websites and social media,” and remove DEI language in “internal messaging and training materials.”
Skydance’s overture comes after Carr dismantled the FCC’s own diversity programs and encouraged corporations to follow suit. Skydance needs Carr’s support to transfer CBS television station licenses to the Ellison family who own Skydance. Boss David Ellison, is the son of Trump ally, Larry Ellison.
CBS News to add bias ombudsman
To further address right-wing complaints over alleged news bias, Skydance has pledged to “promote transparency and increased accountability” at CBS News. The company will install an ombudsman, reporting to the Paramount president, “to receive and evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns involving CBS” for at least two years.
The move follows fallout from a legal dispute over edits made to a 60 Minutes interview with former presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Trump sued CBS in federal court in Texas and Carr opened an inquiry into alleged news distortion. Somewhat controversially, Paramount later paid Trump a $16-million settlement, and he says he expects to receive another $20 million worth of advertising and PSA time from the new owners.
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Commitment to viewpoint diversity
An FCC filing from Ellison’s meeting with Carr said Skydance is committed to “unbiased journalism and its embrace of diverse viewpoints, principles that will ensure CBS’s editorial decision-making reflects the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers.”
Kyoko McKinnon added: “We further reaffirm that, after consummation of the proposed transaction, New Paramount’s new management will ensure that the company’s array of news and entertainment programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum, consistent with the varying perspectives of the viewing audience.”
Skydance also promised not to set numerical goals related to race, ethnicity or gender of job applicants, while affirming that its content “reflects the many audiences and communities it serves in a manner that complies with non-discrimination requirements and other applicable laws.”
The changes follow similar DEI rollbacks from Verizon, which promised to abandon diversity efforts in its $20-billion bid to acquire Frontier Communications. Carr has also launched probes into diversity efforts at Walt Disney and Comcast.
