Meidas RESPONDS after CBS Gave Us MIDDLE FINGER

By Ben Meiselas

Hey MeidasMighty, it’s MeidasTouch Co-Founder Ben Meiselas. I’ll keep this short. I am pissed at CBS and their parent company, Paramount. They gave us all the middle finger. They forced out legendary 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens because he refused to bend the knee to Trump.

60 Minutes is on CBS, which is owned by Paramount. The controlling shareholder of Paramount is Shari Redstone, who inherited the company from her dad, Sumner Redstone, when he died at age 97 in 2020. Shari Redstone desperately wants to sell her shares in Paramount to a company called Skydance in an $8 billion transaction. The transaction requires regulatory approval from the Trump administration. Paramount and Skydance agreed to a 90-day extension on their deal to try and get that regulatory approval from Trump.

Donald Trump despises the coverage of him on 60 Minutes. They are fearless, diligent, and do some of the best reporting in America. Trump has frequently attacked 60 Minutes on social media and in speeches. Last October 2024, Trump sued Paramount, CBS, and 60 Minutes for an absurd amount of $10 billion, claiming their interview with then-VP Kamala Harris caused him pain and suffering under a consumer statute in Texas (Trump was too scared himself to be interviewed by 60 Minutes). Trump sued in the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division, to get a favorable judge on the case. Trump amended the lawsuit in February to change his claimed damages to $20 billion. Trump has also publicly directed his FCC Chair to go after Paramount and CBS’s licenses.

Trump’s goal is obvious. He wants to shut down negative stories on him from 60 Minutes. He wants to humiliate 60 Minutes executives, CBS executives, and Shari Redstone. Trump wants to use the threats of withholding regulatory approval of an $8 billion deal to extract a personal settlement for himself and make money, as he did with ABC, Meta, and others.

60 Minutes producer Bill Owens did everything he could to fight for the independence of 60 Minutes. However, he was forced to resign when he said his ability to report on the news was compromised by Paramount. Bill Owens gave a dire warning about Trump’s control over the network and his fear that CBS and Paramount were likely gearing up to reach a settlement with Trump on his ridiculous lawsuit. The fact that Bill Owens could no longer work at 60 Minutes tells you just how bad it is now at CBS. No wonder news networks aren’t showing the mass protests, the town halls, and the shadow hearings.

Let me be clear. Bill Owens can always have a job at the MeidasTouch Network if he wants.

I doubt we could pay him what CBS / 60 Minutes did, but we can be creative, and our independence will never, ever be compromised. He can be sure of that.

Bill Owens or any good reporter at 60 Minutes could use our distribution platform, which gets more views than CBS anyway, to get out the facts about Trump to tens of millions of people.

At times like this, the importance of independent media is very, very clear.

We are not afraid to speak the truth. Watch how easy it is. Trump is a felon. Trump is a fraud. Trump is a sexual abuser. Trump is a sexual predator. Trump is a terrible businessperson who bankrupted many businesses. Trump is a cheat. Trump is a scammer.

I have no fear typing these words. None. It’s the truth.

We stand shoulder to shoulder with the MeidasMighty and groups like 50501, the ACLU, the AFL-CIO, AFT, and the others who don’t bend the knee.

We stand with the protesters, we cover the protests and the shadow hearings and town halls, and we cover all the news that the corporate media seeks to suppress.

When I send messages that sometimes awkwardly ask if you could subscribe to this Substack, it’s precisely because we know the importance of having a distribution channel bigger than the likes of CBS, ABC, NBC, or even Fox. We get more views than them all because of you.

Yesterday was an interesting day.

On the one hand, we got the great news that the MeidasTouch Podcast was awarded “Podcast of the Year” by the Webby Awards. That is their top honor. Of the millions of podcasts in the world, the MeidasTouch Podcast was number one. On the other hand, I got the news about 60 Minutes.

In many ways, those two pieces of news are closely related.

The rise of independent media and shows like ours that beat CBS has coincided with networks like CBS losing viewers, losing trust, and kissing the ring.

For me, the most important thing for a news network to have is trust.

We’ve worked hard at the MeidasTouch Network to earn your trust and to fight every day for you and our democracy.

In contrast, networks like CBS have taken their audience for granted and put profits over people.

So, sure, CBS gave us all the middle finger yesterday, but are we really shocked?

To me, this inspires us to grow bigger at the MeidasTouch Network.

Who knows, maybe someone like a Bill Owens decides to join us soon.

As we grow, we hope to be the destination where great journalists, anchors, producers, and execs go—who want to be on the right side of history and fight for the people and stop the Trump regime.

I want to thank you all for reading this and being a subscriber to this Substack.

The Webby Award for Podcast of the Year is an honor we share with you.

The fact that we get more views on YouTube and podcast downloads than any network or person is because of you.

Thank you.

If you are not yet a subscriber, help us keep growing and help us stay number one.

Subscribe now if you can.

Thanks MeidasMighty.

Ben