“All they should’ve said was, ‘George misspoke. The president, that paragon of virtue, was only found guilty of sexual assault, not rape. So we stand corrected,’” Costas said of the decision to settle. “They didn’t have to pay a $15 million ransom.”
The Post had previously reported that Stephanopoulos had been told repeatedly by producers to not use the word “rape” but he ignored the warnings.
Costas then turned to CBS parent Paramount Global, which is controlled by Shari Redstone, over its attempts to settle another Trump suit over the alleged biased editing of a “60 Minutes” sit-down with then-vice president Kamala Harris.
Paramount is currently looking to close an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media in a move that would require the greenlight from Trump’s Federal Communications Commission.
The network has denied it deceptively edited the “60 Minutes” interview to make Harris sound more cogent.
Under pressure from Trump’s lawsuit and higher-ups at Paramount, longtime “60 Minutes” boss Bill Owens exited the company, citing waning editorial dependence.
“And did Shari Redstone, because she wants to affect a merger that Trump’s FCC can stand in the way of, did she have to besmirch and undercut the gold standard in our lifetime of broadcast journalism, ’60 Minutes?’” Costas said.
“Paying $20 million in ransom to Trump is just the cost of doing business when there’s billions of dollars at stake. These are ongoing assaults on the basic idea of a free press.”
Costas also took a jab at CNN, which he claimed has “valorized” Trump “in the name of being balanced,” dubbing such work as “MAGA media.” CNN brass has pushed for anchors to try to remain objective when covering the Trump administration.
“But if the answer to that is MAGA media, if the answer to that is Donald Trump’s view of the world, which is only through a prism of what benefits him, there are no higher ideals. There are no principles at work other than what benefits him,” he said. “I’ll stay with where we are without correction if the correction is what Donald Trump represents.”
Source : https://nypost.com/2025/06/10/media/bob-costas-rips-mainstream-media-for-doing-maga-media-there-really-isnt-two-sides/
