News Distortion Complainant Says Skydance Could Address Concerns Privately

said in an interview Tuesday (see 2502110073). Suhr said he was encouraged by Skydance and CBS parent Paramount Global’s response brief stating that they're committed to fair and balanced journalism. “That’s good rhetoric. I just want to make sure it's not simply sentimentality, that there's something concrete to it, and if we can find a way to structure something that's concrete and accountable,” he said. The news distortion complaint and the Skydance merger are “different docket numbers and even different bodies of FCC doctrine,” but CAR’s underlying concerns in both proceedings are the same, Suhr said. “If they can address those concerns, I think that'd be real progress.” CAR, Fuse Media and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters submitted a joint ex parte filing Tuesday supporting one another’s positions and proposing conditions on the deal. CAR’s proposals include increased viewpoint diversity on the New Paramount board, editorial staff located in cities besides New York and Los Angeles, and an oversight board or ombudsman. The Teamsters and Fuse want Skydance to reach collective bargaining agreements with all employees and reserve space on streaming services for independent programmers. There’s precedent for companies reaching private agreements to address regulator concerns in lieu of merger conditions, said David Goodfriend, who represents Fuse and the Teamsters. “We're not trying to kill the deal,” he said. “We're not trying to be obstructionist. We just want to see the deal go through in a way that respects the public interest.”