Surprise! The 'Bias Monitor' Who Trump Imposed on CBS Turns Out to Be a Trump Crony

Sep 09, 2025

As part of his illegal shakedown of CBS News, in which he blackmailed Paramount by holding up a merger, Donald Trump forced CBS to appoint a “bias monitor.” If that sounds like a government-appointed censor empowered to shape news reporting to Trump’s liking, this is exactly what CBS is getting.

The Associated Press tells us who got the job:

CBS News has a new ombudsman assigned to look into public complaints, but the job being assumed by Kenneth Weinstein bears little resemblance to how this watchdog role has traditionally operated in journalism.
Weinstein, appointed Monday by CBS’ parent company Paramount, has little background in journalism and his duties include no public role. He’s the former head of a conservative think tank and has made several donations to Republican causes, including President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. …
In news organizations that employ ombudsmen—and the number who do has been shrinking—the job effectively reports to the public, said Kelly McBride, expert in media ethics at the Poynter Institute and NPR’s public editor. But Paramount said it does not envision Weinstein having any public-facing role.

Of course this “ombudsman” won’t report to the public. He’s there to report to Trump, who now has the final say on what gets reported by CBS News.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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