Paramount Global has paid President Donald Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit accusing CBS’s “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an October 2024 interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris in a way that misled voters ahead of the presidential election. Trump had initially sought up to $20 billion in damages. Under the agreement, Paramount avoids issuing an apology but will begin releasing full transcripts of presidential-candidate interviews after they air. The deal has provoked sharp criticism from within the media industry. On the July 7 edition of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart labeled the payment “shameful,” while longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft called it “a shakedown” and “tribute to the king.” Kroft said many journalists view the settlement as capitulation that could chill investigative reporting. Stewart and Kroft argued that the company’s priority was safeguarding its pending $8 billion sale to Skydance Media, which must be approved by the Federal Communications Commission led by Trump-appointed chair Brendan Carr. They suggested the lawsuit posed a regulatory risk to the merger, giving the White House leverage in extracting the payment. Paramount has not publicly explained its rationale beyond describing the suit as burdensome. Inside CBS News, staff members have expressed anger at paying what First Amendment lawyers had deemed a weak claim, according to accounts cited by Kroft. Critics warn the episode underscores the vulnerability of news organizations whose corporate parents face unrelated business pressures that can be exploited by political figures.