Merger Rules Mandate Viewpoint Diversity

The FCC approved the Skydance–Paramount deal with a condition that CBS feature a wider range of political viewpoints. Paramount then bought Bari Weiss’s Free Press and made her CBS News editor-in-chief. This shows regulators using merger consent terms to push ideological diversity inside newsrooms. — It suggests government merger conditions can steer editorial composition, raising questions about press independence and offering a new tool to diversify media ecosystems.