OpEd Column: Paramount-Skydance deal subverts free speech and the free press in America

Published 8:30 am Tuesday, August 5, 2025

The  purpose of antimonopoly regulation is to establish a rule of law to  protect individual liberty and the distributions of power on which democracy depends, not extort favors from desperate corporations

Regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s 2-1 vote  to approve Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount:

“Skydance and Paramount’s self-censorship and pay-off of the Trump  Administration, in pursuit of government approval of an unwise merger, is worthy of condemnation. But it’s important to view Paramount’s action  within two broader contexts.

First, it marks but the latest in a long series of attacks by this  administration on free speech and the free press in America, including unprecedented attacks on universities, newspapers, and even the  oligarchs who control America’s communications platforms. The purpose of antimonopoly regulation is to establish a rule of law to protect  individual liberty and the distributions of power on which democracy  depends, not extort favors from desperate corporations.

Second, it’s important to remember how CBS and so many other news and  entertainment companies came to this point. Today’s assaults on free speech and the free press are the direct result of the fantastically  naïve pro-monopoly policies put in place under presidents Reagan and  Clinton. It was Google and Facebook, after all, that for 15 years starved American newspapers and broadcasters of the ad dollars on which  they always depended, and directly suppressed the ability of readers and  viewers to connect with the reporters and publishers of their choice.

CBS and Paramount have been in deep trouble for years now. Many leading liberals helped create that crisis.

One immediate lesson stands out. Democracies around the world must beware. As the Trump administration tries to use tariffs and trade policy to loosen regulation of tech monopolists, theoretically in the name of free speech, remember always that their goal is the exact opposite.

Barry C. Lynn is Executive Director of the Open Markets Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit think tank that uses research, journalism and advocacy to address concerns about corporate concentration and monopoly power.