The news that Paramount Global will settle Donald Trump’s 60 Minutes lawsuit for $16 million certainly did not come as a shock to staffers at CBS News. For months, there has been a great deal of consternation and even resignation at the prospect of a settlement and the impact that it would have on the news division.

Paramount Global is being hammered for bowing to presidential pressure and settling a lawsuit that it likely could have beaten in court. But this convoluted episode is really more about the plaintiff,

Within CBS news, anger over a $16 million settlement widely seen as a capitulation to Trump was tempered by a sobering reality: the outcome could have been worse.