Paramount’s interest in settling has dismayed CBS’s news division. The executive producer of “60 Minutes” abruptly resigned last week.
Lawyers for President Trump and Paramount, the parent of CBS News, are set to begin mediation on Wednesday over a lawsuit brought by Mr. Trump that accuses “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an interview with his 2024 Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris.
Legal experts have called the suit baseless and an easy victory for CBS. But Paramount is entering the talks prepared to make a deal.
In an April 18 meeting, the Paramount board outlined acceptable financial terms for a potential settlement with the president, according to three people with knowledge of the internal discussions. The exact dollar amounts remain unclear, but the board’s move clears a path for an out-of-court resolution.
Shari Redstone, the company’s controlling shareholder, has said she favors settling the case. She is set to receive a major payday in a pending sale of Paramount to a Hollywood studio, Skydance, that requires sign-off from the Trump administration. Any settlement would ultimately require the board’s approval, and Ms. Redstone has told the board that she is recusing herself from deliberations related to the lawsuit.
Paramount declined to comment.
Paramount’s interest in settling has dismayed CBS’s news division, in particular the staff of “60 Minutes,” the country’s most popular weekly news program. Four days after the April 18 board meeting, the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens, abruptly announced he would resign, citing encroachment on its journalistic independence and saying that Paramount “is done with me.”
Mr. Owens’s resignation sent shock waves through the media industry, which has faced an escalating series of legal and rhetorical attacks from the president. Mr. Trump has brought lawsuits against television networks, threatened to rescind broadcast licenses and barred reporters from disfavored news outlets from attending some White House events.