Since billionaires took control of the US television network CBS, it has become a conservative opinion factory. The case is a prime example of how financial power can transform traditional media into right-wing propaganda channels.
The media company Columbia Broadcasting System was founded in New York in 1927. Since then, CBS has been one of the best-known traditional and quality media outlets in the US. However, the news channel CBS News underwent a profound change last year, as described in an analysis by the news portal Watson.
After the takeover, CBS paid Trump $16 million in severance pay.
In 2025, CBS became part of Paramount Skydance Corporation—a merger of several media companies. Its CEO is David Ellison, son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison. Ellison is the fourth richest person in the world and is considered a close ally of Donald Trump. What’s explosive about this is that Donald Trump had been involved in a legal dispute with CBS for some time because he didn’t like the coverage of his election fraud conspiracy. Shortly after CBS merged into Ellison’s corporation, Trump received a settlement of $16 million.
Bari Weiss – Architect of the Conservative Realignment
In 2025, David Ellison appointed Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News—one of several decisions that will make the broadcaster more conservative. The former New York Times columnist described herself as a “token conservative” and portrayed herself as a victim of bullying when she left the liberal media world. This earned her the sympathy of the Ellisons.
Since Weiss took charge of editorial policy, accusations of censorship have been mounting, as have friendly interviews with Trump and members of his administration. One example: Weiss stopped the legendary program 60 Minutes from broadcasting a report on torture in a Salvadoran prison where people deported from the US are held.
Weiss justified this with allegedly insufficient research and the lack of a statement from the government—even though the journalists had tried several times to obtain one.
In addition, Tony Dokoupil now hosts Evening News, one of CBS News‘ most prestigious programs, a prestigious position at CBS News. The new host presents himself as the “voice of the common people”. But instead of critical reporting, Dokoupil now pays homage to politicians like Marco Rubio, Trump’s secretary of state.
Even the more liberal broadcaster CNN could be sold to Paramount.
The developments at CBS are not an isolated case. Even CNN, which has tended to be liberal up to now, faces a similar fate if Warner Bros. Discovery is sold to Paramount. The Ellisons have already signaled that they are seeking to merge the two broadcasters.
This article is largely taken from direkt-magazin.ch.
The rights to the content remain with the original publisher.
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