Excellent coverage of the ongoing hearing in Trump's trollsuit against the Des Moines Reg and pollster Ann Selzer for whiffing a 2024 poll. Trump calls it a violation of the IA consumer fraud statute — a gross assault on the 1st Amendment. But also, any harm was to the campaign, not him personally.
Laura Belin@laurarbelin.bsky.social · 4w agoOstergren suggests that since a campaign is a legal representative of a candidate, campaign spending in response to this poll would be like an economic loss for the candidate. Judge wants to know if there's any case law on that; he's pretty certain there isn't. 72/
![Skydance promised the FCC “reporting [that] is fair, unbiased, and fact based.” The 60 Minutes segment on Catholics and politics this weekend failed to live up to the journalistic values that are supposed to define the new CBS News.
The drama opened April 6 when Paramount’s The Free Press reported from unnamed sources that a senior Pentagon official showed a combative and arrogant attitude toward the Holy See’s ambassador during a January 22 meeting. This report was promptly refuted by the Pentagon, the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, and the Holy See itself (“[media] narrative...completely untrue”).
Next Democratic operative David Axelrod met with Pope Leo on April 9. CBS News’ headline gushed: “Pope Leo XIV meets with former Obama adviser David Axelrod. Could he meet with former president soon?”
The third act played out after the Masters Tournament, where 60 Minutes most benefits from carry-over viewership. CBS leveraged that large audience with a 13-minute segment with Norah O’Donnell featuring three cardinals criticizing the president’s policies on Iran and immigration. O’Donnell, of course, was notorious for her bias moderating the 2024 VP debate.
The one-sided report did not include any viewpoints other than the three cardinals and a fourth priest also favorable to immigration. O’Donnell could have interviewed Cardinal Timothy Dolan or Bishop Robert Barron, both of whom serve on the President’s religious liberty commission, or a Catholic scholar of just war theory like papal biographer George Weigel or Professor J. Budziszewski. She didn't.
This report was neither fair nor unbiased. It was a one-sided hit piece delivered on a high ratings show at the same time as other efforts to push Catholic voters in a particular political direction.
We are copying FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on this letter because Paramount didn’t just make these promises to viewers—it made them to a federal regulatory agency to secure approval of the transaction.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:7r477jd7q7p2mzmyqfm7jmp7/bafkreifk7dj6ps6lcfi6aaplifgflsgxeul6cnf3e4fjidmran7at6sekq)
