Shari Redstone, 71, has been busier than she had anticipated after promoting Paramount, the place she served as chair, to Skydance Media in a broadly scrutinized merger this summer time.

The Jewish media mogul lately joined the Israeli leisure studio Sipur as chair, and in main the Redstone Household Basis, she is concerned in a spread of tasks fostering cultural ties between the Black and Jewish communities and combating the rise in antisemitism, amongst different initiatives.

Her present efforts underscore what she describes as a renewed dedication to combating antisemitism and supporting Israel within the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assaults, an occasion she cites as accelerating her resolution to lastly agree to dump Paramount in an $8 billion take care of Skydance, the Hollywood studio led by David Ellison.

“It took on a brand new vitality for me, and a brand new need to actually be supportive of Israel in each manner I can,” Redstone mentioned of her pondering in an interview with Jewish Insider on Friday. “I simply wish to be a part of that group, as a result of it’s so essential to the way forward for Judaism, and so essential as a core manner, in the end, to combat antisemitism and to convey folks collectively.”

As she embarks on her new ventures, Redstone mentioned she hopes to advertise content material to counter what she views as an inordinately destructive give attention to Israel within the media and leisure industries — a difficulty she highlighted at CBS Information in her ultimate months at Paramount, when she had criticized the corporate’s dealing with of its protection regarding the struggle in Gaza.

Earlier than the merger with Skydance, Paramount had settled a $16 million lawsuit with President Donald Trump over his declare that “60 Minutes,” CBS Information’ flagship program, had tried to affect the outcomes of the election by selectively enhancing a remark in an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

With the sale and lawsuit behind her, Redstone says she is now “very inspired” by the course of CBS underneath Ellison, praising Paramount’s latest resolution to publicly denounce a Hollywood boycott of the Israeli movie trade. “It’s very nice to have folks use their voices and their platforms and never be afraid and simply do the suitable factor,” she advised JI. “I hope that extra folks can stand as much as that normal, as a result of it isn’t all the time simple.”

She was considerably extra indirect, in the meantime, in addressing ABC’s resolution final week to droop the late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel over his feedback on Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and the Trump administration’s position in pressuring the corporate to take him off the air. (Kimmel returned to his present Tuesday evening, although TV station house owners Sinclair and Nexstar are nonetheless refusing to air his present on their ABC associates.)

“I don’t know what went into ABC’s resolution,” she mentioned. “I simply know that we’re dwelling in a world proper now that’s very divisive, and people of us who’ve platforms actually need to make use of it to attempt to unite folks and never simply divide folks.”

Within the interview with JI, Redstone mentioned her plans at Sipur and elsewhere, shared her ideas on the broader information ecosystem and weighed in on Trump’s heightened efforts to silence his critics within the media trade, amongst different points.

The dialog has been edited for size and readability.

Jewish Insider: You’ve suggested that your resolution to depart Paramount and to promote the enterprise was in some ways fueled by an elevated need within the wake of Oct. 7 to work extra on combating antisemitism and supporting Israel. Are you able to elaborate in your pondering there and what specific points or causes you’re hoping to give attention to now?

Shari Redstone: Oct. 7 impacted me and made me wish to get extra engaged than I had ever been earlier than. It simply actually accelerated my need to have the ability to give attention to the problems that have been so essential right here and world wide. I made a visit to Israel in January, proper after Oct. 7, and that was actually what modified every little thing for me. The primary cease was the Nova music competition [site], and simply being there made me understand that that is what I wanted to do, and I haven’t regarded again. I’m actually enthusiastic about with the ability to spend extra time and sources addressing the problems of antisemitism and hate. 

I already had a bunch of applications that I used to be engaged on, together with a program I did on the Y with kids aged 4 to five to actually respect totally different cultures, and it makes use of books, actions and household occasions to introduce youngsters to varied cultures with a spotlight actually on combating antisemitism. However we will’t combat antisemitism except we actually give people, particularly youngsters, an understanding of all cultures and variations that exist, and the way to handle these variations. So I had a variety of applications going, however now I’m simply full velocity forward and tremendous excited.

JI: Is that work via your basis?

SR: It’s largely for my basis. The principle mission there may be to empower people and communities by utilizing training, movie media to create alternatives for open, civil dialogue and to actually promote cross-cultural understanding. I did a program on the Jewish Museum in New York with a Black artist who was considerably influenced by a Jewish artist. As a part of our Movie Influence Collection, we did two movies, together with “From Swastika to Jim Crow,” which talked in regards to the Jewish-Black relationship when [Jewish academics] got here right here after the struggle, and no one would take them in, apart from the HBCUs.

I’m now specializing in a film referred to as “Shared Legacies,” which is in regards to the historic relationship of the Black and Jewish communities, particularly in the course of the Civil Rights Motion. I actually discover that if we will bridge the hole and produce totally different communities collectively, and we might be one another’s advocates, that’s so much stronger than being our personal advocates — and that’s one of many the reason why a lot of my programming is round cross-cultural training.

JI: Are there any new or upcoming initiatives that you just’re wanting ahead to engaged on via the inspiration?

SR: For the Movie Influence Collection, we’re really going to Washington to do a screening on the Library of Congress, the place we’re bringing collectively Black and Jewish leaders, each in Congress and outdoors of Congress, to display screen the movie and to have a dinner. I’m very enthusiastic about that. One of many issues I attempt to do just isn’t do one-off programming, to attempt to construct a group and proceed to convey them again. 

One other different factor I’m tremendous enthusiastic about is my program on the Y. We’re now increasing that program from one Y to 13 Ys, and we’re not solely working with the kids — we’re working with youngsters, mother and father and households to actually create a group round these points. One of many issues I’ve discovered is if you wish to do a program with the kids, it is advisable have interaction with the household. It must be a part of their life, not only one nice day of enjoyable or studying.

JI: On prime of that, you lately joined Sipur as chair. Are you able to speak about what you’re anticipating to do there now, and why you selected to hitch this specific studio?

SR: I’ve to begin by saying I used to be completely not in search of one other enterprise alternative. However the actuality is, I labored with Emilio Schenker, who’s the CEO of Sipur, and his workforce on bringing the film “We Will Dance Once more” to Paramount. Throughout that point, I simply received to know him and his workforce and his supporters, and I like his imaginative and prescient of being the primary worldwide studio primarily based in Israel. He has an incredible enterprise mannequin, nice workforce, nice content material. I adore it, as a result of a lot of our time is spent on coping with extra of the controversial points that contain Israel, so for me, it’s very in line with the work I’m doing in my basis. 

Hopefully we will current a bigger view of Israel. We will current the successes of Israel. We will have optimistic tales of Israel. Proper now, they’re doing a undertaking in Argentina with one of many prime singers in Israel, Noa Kirel. It’s going to be a telenovela for the Latin American market. We’re doing one other TV collection I’m very enthusiastic about in Australia. We’re doing an incredible collection in Israel. We’re actually getting visibility for a unique facet of Israel, which I believe is actually essential. It’s very constant each with an incredible enterprise and with making an attempt to have an effect, as a result of a lot of what we do is about selling cross-cultural understanding and relationships and proactivity, and I believe what Sipur is doing goes to additional that trigger.

JI: You talked about that it’s good to give attention to much less controversial points associated to Israel, but it surely appears troublesome to keep away from controversy even with apolitical tasks given the pitched debate in Hollywood over Israel and the mounting boycotts and different points we’ve seen at latest movie festivals in Venice and Toronto. What do you make of that dynamic and the way do you’re feeling like you possibly can handle it in your new place?

SR: I wish to begin by saying I all the time handle that concern, as a result of I believe if we don’t use our voices and our platforms to advocate for what we predict is essential, then we actually fail at what our core mission is. I actually am involved in regards to the boycott. I believe folks don’t all the time have the suitable data to make the choices that they make. However I additionally really feel that one in all my jobs now in creating content material for Israel, in working with Sipur, is to supply these alternatives for these relationships to proceed. I don’t imagine a boycott is the reply, and as we discovered on school campuses, so many individuals get entangled in actions and boycotts and protests with out even actually understanding what the problems are. Hopefully this can result in higher training for everybody. That was a difficulty I had on the information as nicely. Folks must be educated. They should perceive the information earlier than they exit and make statements and take actions. So, fast reply, I don’t prefer it. Longer reply, I’m going to do every little thing I can to each change it and to combat the narrative.

JI: Are you able to discuss extra about your connection to Israel and the way it developed over time? When did you first go to?

SR: I used to be in Israel years and years in the past. My youngsters studied there, and Israel was all the time essential. However after Oct. 7, it was the primary time I considered what my life can be with out Israel, and the way in so some ways, we’ve taken without any consideration the existence of Israel and every little thing that they do, frankly, for peace within the Center East. You already know, to offer Jews a spot that they know they may all the time have a house, which has turn into much more essential previously a number of months. It took on a brand new vitality for me, and a brand new need to actually be supportive of Israel in each manner I can. 

I believe all of us — Jews, non-Jews — we take sure issues without any consideration, and that type of taught me, don’t take something without any consideration. That’s why I’m simply so excited to double down on my work in Israel, to spend extra time there, to work with Sipur, to work with the survivors of the Nova music competition. I’ve labored with lone troopers. I’ve labored with the IDF. And I simply wish to be a part of that group, as a result of it’s so essential to the way forward for Judaism, and so essential as a core manner, in the end, to combat antisemitism and to convey folks collectively. 

There’s by no means sufficient tales advised about how, the place else do you’ve got Jews and Arabs working collectively within the authorities? No person talks about all the issues that Israel does to attempt to present a really optimistic existence for the Arabs dwelling in Israel. No person did an excessive amount of for them in Gaza for the final 15 years.

JI: Have you ever your self confronted antisemitism?

SR: You already know, all of us have. I’m not going to enter it, however, yeah.

JI: You took concern with CBS’ handling of some Israel issues whilst you have been at Paramount, together with a ‘60 Minutes’ phase that drew virtually solely on interviews with former officers who resigned from the State Division in protest of the Biden administration’s assist for Israel. What are your ideas on the mainstream media’s protection of Israel in the meanwhile? Do you’re feeling that it’s turn into skewed in opposition to Israel amid the struggle in Gaza, and in that case, why do you suppose that’s the case?

SR: Look, antisemitism has existed on this nation and world wide for a really very long time. I believe what occurred after Oct. 7 was boiling up. I don’t suppose it immediately turned a difficulty, and I believe the problems that I attempt to handle return to what I mentioned: Educate folks, give them the information. I believe media and information specifically must be extra balanced. We have to have fact-based reporting that permits folks to know the larger image, the context. That’s what I advocate for, extra training, extra steadiness, for differentiation between opinions and information. 

I believe proper now, it’s very troublesome for audiences to tell apart between information and the opinions given by journalists, and I believe we have to do a greater job of that. And by the way in which, persons are entitled to their opinions. If you happen to’re a information broadcaster, it is advisable current a range of opinions, and other people now are utilizing their opinions as in the event that they’re the information, so I believe we have to do a greater job of simply reality reporting, educating folks and having extra steadiness.

JI: Are there any optimistic examples of media corporations upholding these values you’d wish to level to?

SR: I can’t communicate to what goes on in different corporations. I do know, whereas I used to be at CBS, we in the end did convey someone on to take care of requirements, to have extra checks and balances and accountability. From what I perceive, I believe that’s persevering with.

JI: That will be Susan Zirinsky you’re referring to? You praised the decision to rent her as interim govt director of CBS Information final January.

SR: Yeah, Susan. When she was introduced in, I felt it takes too lengthy for the suitable issues to occur, however I believed that was a very good transfer. I believe we’re going to have to attend and see. However I believe it’s very laborious as a result of it’s very ingrained, and other people’s opinions are primarily based so much on misinformation and never understanding the context. And that’s true for all of us in terms of many points. So now we have to take a step again from what we predict and what we imagine and what we really feel and actually educate ourselves and see whether or not or not that’s going to affect the positions that we’re taking.

JI: Are you inspired by the course that David Ellison is taking at CBS, together with studies he may purchase The Free Press and set up Bari Weiss in a senior editorial position there?

SR: I simply wish to say I’m very inspired by the truth that he’s making an attempt to supply extra honest and balanced information, from what I can learn from the surface. And albeit, I don’t learn it, however I’m advised about it. However I’m very inspired by that. He introduced in someone else, Ken Weinstein, to give attention to requirements and accountability. And I believe if it goes via with Bari, she’s definitely a voice that’s totally different than the voices which have appeared on air and thru the corporate during the last couple of years. So I believe he’s positively stepping into the suitable course. They came out against the boycott. It’s very nice to have folks use their voices and their platforms and never be afraid and simply do the suitable factor. I hope that extra folks can stand as much as that normal, as a result of it isn’t all the time simple.

JI: What was your impression of mainstream information protection of Israel earlier than the Oct. 7 assaults?

SR: I believe the protection of politics, the protection of Israel, the protection of a variety of matters, has turn into unfair and unbalanced, to not quote someone who talks in regards to the reverse, and I believe that we haven’t even realized that pattern going down. I believe it came about in society, it came about on the information. And I believe the difficulty of media bias is one thing that we must be very aware of. I do imagine it existed a very long time earlier than Oct. 7. Issues can’t simply occur in a single day. They’re brewing, and I believe because the world has modified, as folks’s politics have modified, it’s gotten far more divisive. I believe that comes throughout within the information and different media.

JI: With regard to ABC’s resolution to droop Jimmy Kimmel’s present, you said at the Axios Media Trends conference this week, ‘Not due to Trump or due to another causes, however I do suppose all of us must be considerate of the content material we’re placing on air given the division that exists on this nation.’ Do you wish to elaborate on that time?

SR: I don’t know what went into ABC’s resolution. I simply know that we’re dwelling in a world proper now that’s very divisive, and people of us who’ve platforms actually need to make use of it to attempt to unite folks and never simply divide folks. And that doesn’t imply you don’t have a broad array of opinions, and other people can’t specific them. However it goes again to what I mentioned: a broad array of opinions, and making an attempt, as laborious as it could be, to get folks to agree on the information. It’s usually very troublesome for folks consuming media to know, when someone’s speaking, is that this their opinion or is that this their reality? As a result of they communicate with such authority that you just typically don’t understand, ‘Wow, that is simply their opinion.’ And I believe that’s a part of the issue.

JI: How, in your view, does that apply to Israel?

SR: I used to be concerned with this convention in D.C. a few weeks in the past, and someone made a remark about how Israel is like .02% of the inhabitants [Ed. note: As of 2025, Israel makes up approximately .12% of the world population], however 60% of the protection. And why isn’t anyone speaking what’s stepping into Africa and different locations the place there actually is genocide? Why is it that everyone chooses to give attention to Israel and all the time make it a goal? That, once more, is likely one of the the reason why I’m so excited to work with folks to attempt to change the dialog, to attempt to present all the methods by which Jews and Arabs dwell collectively in Israel in a really optimistic manner.

JI: Are there another areas the place you’re working to deal with this drawback?

SR: Proper now, I’m working so much with Sipur. I’ve additionally began funding the manufacturing of content material. I’m working with Jonathan Silvers, who’s producing a film on what’s occurring in Israel now, post-Oct. 7. I’m working with one of many survivors of Nova on a movie. And now we have a present coming to Broadway. I’ve received concerned a bit with the manufacturing of Broadway exhibits, and we introduced on Tuesday that the play ‘Giants,’ in regards to the writer Roald Dahl’s legacy of antisemitism, is coming to Broadway this month. We have been concerned within the play in London, and I believe that’s simply one other alternative to make use of media in a optimistic manner. 

I’ve all the time believed that content material results in dialog that results in change, so the extra content material we will create that folks can see collectively cross-culturally and have conversations about, the higher off we’re going to have the ability to handle these points and to hopefully convey folks collectively.

JI: Appears like an excellent instance of partaking in a civic tradition.

SR: It’s fascinating, as a result of I believe in some ways, the decline in our democratic establishments may be very a lot tied to the rise of hate and antisemitism. Since you want to have the ability to have civil discourse, it is advisable have checks and balances, and it is advisable have accountability. And we’ve misplaced a few of that — each in our authorities, and definitely in media, and definitely in our conversations with others.

JI: Are you frightened in regards to the FCC’s extra activist position and President Trump’s threats to the media?

SR: I fear about every little thing. However the actuality is, if any of their work results in extra honest and balanced protection of points and of the world, I believe that will be nice, as a result of I’m a giant believer in free speech, however simply keep in mind that hate speech just isn’t free speech.