That eerie sound you’re hearing is the First Amendment falling

One of the largest mergers in media history was approved Thursday by the FCC — an $8 billion marriage between Paramount and Skydance Media.

This was epic not as a business story but as a broadside against democracy. The agency established in 1934 as an independent honest broker was deployed as a weapon of domestic war by President Donald Trump.

Like any major merger, this one had twists and turns and complexities. This one had more than its share, as The New York Times reported:

“In recent weeks...