CBS News is currently embroiled in a confluence of ethics and credibility scandals. Many critics condemned the network's handling of the Vice Presidential debate as biased, especially decisions surrounding cutting off the microphone of Republican JD Vance as he calmly fact-checked a misleading 'fact-check' from one of the moderators -- after the network had agreed to avoid such fact-checks, and to silence microphones only under extraordinary circumstances. It was a bad look for CBS, but Vance managed to win the debate anyway. Then came the insane internal drama over a top CBS anchor daring to pose reasonable and pointed questions to a left-wing author whose new book is rife with distortions and untruths about Israel. The featured author had previously portrayed 9/11 first responders as monsters, and subsequently confessed that if he'd been a Gazan, he may have personally participated in the October 7th slaughter of Jews by Hamas terrorists. But the 'scandal' within CBS was that their colleague had the temerity to push back on this man, who is a progressive darling. The host was humiliated and rebuked for engaging in journalism, apparently at the prompting of woke staffers who objected to tough questioning of their ideological sacred cow.
A few voices within CBS world defended their colleague, but it's clear that anti-journalism elements have the upper hand in this newsroom battle, as CBS bosses had also instructed their team not to refer to Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel, as being in Israel at all. It's part of a disturbing pattern. Incidentally, another host of that same show has faced virtually no criticism, and certainly no internal activist mob (a staple within 'elite' newsrooms these days), for allegedly discussing her questions with the subject before the interview. Next up, we had the Kamala Harris 60 Minutes interview. Correspondent Bill Whitaker did a fair and professional job, but the network is now under hot scrutiny for its editing decisions and shocking lack of transparency, as discrepancies have arisen. Watch this:
Remember Kamala’s word salad answer about Israel on 60 Minutes? It’s gone.
— MAZE (@mazemoore) October 8, 2024
This is what many Americans will now see. pic.twitter.com/H4w7btDv6x
The Free Press published an excellent editorial addressing the contretemps:
The edit suggests a possible violation of the CBS News standards guide, which states that “answers to different questions may not be combined to give the impression of one continuous response.” It goes on to say: “We cannot create an answer merely because we wish the subject had said it better,” and that journalists should “always edit interviews in a straightforward manner to preserve the sense of the interview.” You don’t need to be a broadcast journalist to understand why these are important rules. Excessive editing distorts reality—which is the opposite of what good journalism is supposed to do. Given the fact that editing can mislead viewers, broadcasters will often release a full unedited transcript of important interviews...Given the stakes here—a rare interview with a presidential candidate a month before a very close election—you would think CBS would do the same. But no transcript has been forthcoming. Because of that, we still don’t know Harris’s answer to an important question—one with profound political and diplomatic ramifications. It’s a question that’s easy to answer. Or should be. We asked 60 Minutes if they’d make the transcript available, and why they hadn’t done so already. They did not respond.
There is no good reason to withhold the full transcript, especially given the dearth of serious interviews to which Harris has subjected herself during her truncated, election-nullifying presidential campaign. Former CBS reporter Catherine Herridge points to ample precedent in favor of making the entire exchange available:
NEW CONTEXT:
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) October 9, 2024
As Trump campaign calls on @60Minutes to release “full, unedited transcript” of Kamala Harris interview...
There is precedent.
When I interviewed then President Trump in July 2020 @CBSNews we posted the interview transcript.
This is more complete and NOT… pic.twitter.com/Rb7QU5nwlQ
I don't necessarily believe there's some smoking gun bombshell of bias lurking in the unreleased transcript, but there is no defense for CBS to continue to withhold it -- particularly because it looks like they may have violated their own ethical rules here. And now we'll add another example into the mix, via the Speaker of the House:
I recently traveled to NC and victims of Hurricane Helene told me nearly two weeks after landfall, the Biden-Harris Administration had STILL not provided them with all the resources they desperately needed.
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 15, 2024
But CBS selectively edited OUT ENTIRELY this first-hand perspective. pic.twitter.com/ZjO5LWdtsM
Speaker Johnson's staff recorded their end of the Face the Nation interview, and were therefore able to reveal that CBS snipped out meaningful portions of his answers on a significant subject. I understand that taped interviews are sometimes edited for time, and nefarious intentions shouldn't automatically be assumed or imputed. But given this network's track record over the past few weeks, there is no reason to extend them the benefit of the doubt. I'll leave you with a reminder that there's a reason why Donald Trump declined to participate in a 60 Minutes interview, dating back to another media and censorship scandal from the last presidential election.