This move comes amidst criticism from the Trump administration regarding CBS’s perceived anti-conservative stance, including a $16 million settlement related to a lawsuit filed by the president over a supposedly misleadingly edited video of then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on 60 Minutes. The companies’ pledge to tackle this bias likely indicates a shift towards incorporating more conservative viewpoints in their programming. Additionally, Skydance has committed to appointing an ombudsman for a minimum of two years to address and assess any complaints of bias within CBS.

Republican FCC Chair Brendan Carr commented on the approval, emphasizing a mistrust among Americans towards traditional national news outlets for their perceived lack of comprehensive, accurate, and fair reporting. He expressed support for Skydance’s promised reforms at the historically significant CBS network, noting that these changes are expected to enhance CBS’s ability to serve the public interest through balanced and factual reporting. Carr highlighted the FCC’s ongoing efforts to eradicate forms of discriminatory DEI practices and celebrated Skydance’s reaffirmed dedication to localism as part of public interest standards. He further noted that this approval is intended to release a $1.5 billion investment into Paramount.

Carr has made no secret of his distaste for news coverage he sees as disproportionately unfavorable to the right and DEI policies he believes contribute to unfair treatment. He’s opened investigations into all three major networks as well as NPR and PBS (NBCUniversal and its owner Comcast are investors in The Verge parent company Vox Media). A week ago, CBS announced it was retiring The Late Show, hosted by Trump critic and comedian Stephen Colbert. The network said it was “purely a financial decision.”

The FCC’s only remaining Democratic commissioner, Anna Gomez, dissented, writing that, “In an unprecedented move, this once-independent FCC used its vast power to pressure Paramount to broker a private legal settlement and further erode press freedom … Even more alarming, it is now imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law.” Still, she gave Carr credit for calling a vote on the matter, rather than rubber-stamping the merger through one of the agency’s bureaus, like it did for the Verizon-Frontier merger, which similarly required an end to DEI programs.

Gomez warns that this agreement is just the canary in the coal mine. “The Paramount payout and this reckless approval have emboldened those who believe the government can—and should—abuse its power to extract financial and ideological concessions, demand favored treatment, and secure positive media coverage,” she writes. “It is a dark chapter in a long and growing record of abuse that threatens press freedom in this country. But such violations endure only when institutions choose capitulation over courage. It is time for companies, journalists, and citizens alike to stand up and speak out, because unchecked and unquestioned power has no rightful place in America.”