{"id":378,"date":"2026-07-17T23:12:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378"},"modified":"2026-07-17T23:12:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T23:12:05","slug":"ethics-concerns-swirl-around-paramount-merger-as-court-hearing-kicks-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378","title":{"rendered":"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A dozen states are suing to thwart a merger that would give Paramount Skydance executives ownership of Warner Bros. Discovery \u2013 and effectively give outsize media control to the pro-MAGA Ellison family.<\/p>\n

Read more How 3 documents show Trump is on a path to reject the midterm results<\/a><\/p>\n

On Friday, a judge heard arguments as the case kicked off, with Variety reporting that the judge \u201csuggested at one point that Paramount had conceded that it will not suffer harm if a temporary restraining order is granted, which would put the merger on hold for up to 28 days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paramount has been central to President Donald Trump\u2019s authoritarian visions of wielding media control. And that\u2019s necessary context for any potential approval of this merger.<\/p>\n

Paramount agreed to pay $16 million last year to settle a bogus lawsuit Trump filed over a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d interview involving his 2024 presidential opponent, Kamala Harris. Paramount platforms have been used to promote the president\u2019s cryptocurrency ventures, and Trump has boasted about MAGA-friendly changes instituted at CBS after his administration approved the Paramount-Skydance merger.<\/p>\n

In addition, the overtly pro-Trump chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr \u2014 who authored a chapter in the far-right playbook Project 2025 \u2014 has even depicted Paramount-Skydance\u2019s control of CBS as one of Trump\u2019s \u201cwins\u201d over the media.<\/p>\n

Trump even seemed to allude to the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger last weekend, when he snapped at CNN\u2019s Jake Tapper: \u201cWe\u2019re trying to have CNN go on a normal path. And we\u2019ll do that.\u201d(CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)<\/p>\n

Read more IRS\u2019 top tax official reportedly ousted after warning of White House interference<\/a><\/p>\n

From the proposed merger\u2019s likely negative impacts on quality and competitiveness in the media to its brazen usefulness to a corrupt administration, there\u2019s plenty not to like about the deal. And the ethics, or lack thereof, surrounding the merger could not be uglier.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, ProPublica reported that that FCC commissioners \u2014 who are in the process of reviewing the merger \u2014 have accepted pricey gifts from Paramount while the company has had business before the panel \u2014 specifically, high-dollar tickets to attend the Kennedy Center Honors gala.<\/p>\n

The report cites experts who say the gifts should prompt the FCC officials to recuse themselves from consideration of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, and that any such recusal could leave the FCC short of quorum ahead of the approval vote. (An FCC spokesperson defended the officials\u2019 behavior as consistent with commissioners under previous administrations.)<\/p>\n

As for the accusations of cronyism surrounding the proposed merger, ProPublica\u2019s summation of Paramount\u2019s response just about sums up why some are concerned:<\/p>\n

\n

Melissa Zukerman, Paramount\u2019s chief communications officer, said it was a decades-long \u201cCBS practice to invite government officials from both parties\u201d to the Kennedy Center show. She didn\u2019t address why the practice continued after new ownership took over last year, the purpose of the gifts or whether the tickets posed a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

Read more Todd Blanche meeting leaves Epstein survivors stunned and angry<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A dozen states are trying to thwart a deal that would bring Warner Bros. Discovery under the control of Trump-friendly Paramount Skydance. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nEthics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A dozen states are trying to thwart a deal that would bring Warner Bros. Discovery under the control of Trump-friendly Paramount Skydance.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T23:12:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"headline\":\"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-17T23:12:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378\"},\"wordCount\":514,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1e2910548e163cf15fe951d9b23d38bd.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"US\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378\",\"name\":\"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off - Long Distance Movers USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1e2910548e163cf15fe951d9b23d38bd.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-17T23:12:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1e2910548e163cf15fe951d9b23d38bd.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1e2910548e163cf15fe951d9b23d38bd.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":629},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=378#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Long Distance Movers USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off - Long Distance Movers USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off - Long Distance Movers USA","og_description":"A dozen states are trying to thwart a deal that would bring Warner Bros. Discovery under the control of Trump-friendly Paramount Skydance.","og_url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378","og_site_name":"Long Distance Movers USA","article_published_time":"2026-07-17T23:12:05+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"headline":"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off","datePublished":"2026-07-17T23:12:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378"},"wordCount":514,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1e2910548e163cf15fe951d9b23d38bd.webp","articleSection":["US"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378","name":"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off - Long Distance Movers USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1e2910548e163cf15fe951d9b23d38bd.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-17T23:12:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1e2910548e163cf15fe951d9b23d38bd.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1e2910548e163cf15fe951d9b23d38bd.webp","width":1200,"height":629},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=378#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ethics concerns swirl around Paramount merger as court hearing kicks off"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/","name":"Long Distance Movers USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com"],"url":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}