During his July 15 meeting with Carr, Ellison underscored \u201cSkydance\u2019s commitment to unbiased journalism and its embrace of diverse viewpoints, principles that will ensure CBS\u2019s editorial decision-making reflects the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers,\u201d according to an FCC filing.<\/p>\n
Skydance\u2019s Kyoko McKinnon added: \u201cWe further reaffirm that, after consummation of the proposed transaction, New Paramount\u2019s new management will ensure that the company\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellison recently met with prominent journalist Bari Weiss, reportedly to discuss Skydance acquiring her center-right online publication<\/a>, the Free Press, as an alternative to traditional news sites. She started the outlet, which is often critical of DEI, after quitting her job as a New York Times opinion writer, citing intolerance of her<\/a> and her more conservative viewpoints. <\/p>\n Also last week, late-night host Stephen Colbert learned his CBS talk show would be canceled<\/a> in May. CBS has said Colbert\u2019s cancellation was \u201cpurely a financial decision\u201d and not related to the merger approval<\/a>. Still, conservatives and liberals have widely questioned whether Colbert\u2019s frequent criticisms of Trump played into the decision. <\/p>\n Skydance has said it didn\u2019t have a role in the Colbert decision.<\/p>\n Skydance isn\u2019t the only company under pressure to ditch diversity programs to win FCC approval for a deal. <\/p>\n Two months ago, telecommunications giant Verizon pledged to drop diversity efforts<\/a> to gain Carr\u2019s blessing for the company\u2019s $20-billion takeover of Frontier Communications. <\/p>\n Carr separately launched probes into Walt Disney Co<\/a>. and Comcast Corp.\u2019s workplace diversity<\/a> efforts. <\/p>\n After George Floyd\u2019s 2020 murder in Minneapolis, Paramount and other Hollywood companies vowed to hire more people of color. Such moves were cheered by many, including those cognizant<\/a> of Hollywood\u2019s troubled history<\/a> with diversity<\/a>. <\/p>\n Paramount encouraged executives to make diverse hires and promotions, and progress toward the corporate goals was one of many factors considered when calculating bonuses. That program was dismantled last year.<\/p>\n For years, CBS struggled<\/a> to shake its prime-time sitcom formula to build shows around white men, a la \u201cKing of Queens,\u201d \u201cEverybody Loves Raymond\u201d and \u201cTwo and a Half Men.\u201d <\/p>\n The network broke the pattern<\/a> in 2018 with \u201cThe Neighborhood,\u201d starring Cedric the Entertainer,<\/a> and procedural drama \u201cFBI,\u201d starring Zeeko Zaki. <\/p>\n CBS also championed mentorship programs for writers and directors to build a more diverse pipeline of creators. That initiative dated to 2004. <\/p>\n FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has made a priority of abolishing DEI programs. <\/p>\n (Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Skydance promised not to set numerical goals related to race, ethnicity or gender of job applicants. <\/p>\n \u201cThe company is committed to ensuring that its storytelling reflects the many audiences and communities it serves in a manner that complies with non-discrimination requirements and other applicable laws,\u201d Kyoko McKinnon wrote. <\/p>\n \u201cI am very encouraged by today\u2019s announcements,\u201d said Daniel Suhr, president of the conservative Center for American Rights, which filed an FCC complaint about \u201c60 Minutes\u201d and suggested a CBS News ombudsman. \u201cThese are important steps towards better broadcasting that serves all consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Ellison\u2019s Skydance Media pledged to abandon all diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Paramount Global in an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33298,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[28,27759,991,23497,3426,27760,18205,8854,27464,27761,27762,27763,4208,3094,3479,2394],"class_list":["post-33297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-carr","tag-cbs","tag-colbert","tag-company","tag-conservative","tag-david-ellison","tag-dei","tag-diversity","tag-diversity-effort","tag-minutes","tag-news-distortion","tag-paramount","tag-skydance","tag-trump","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33297\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/p>\n