CBS News Crumbles Under Pressure From Noem, Says ‘Face the Nation With Margaret Brennan’ Will No Longer Edit Interviews

CBS News, facing new allegations of anti-Trump and anti-MAGA bias, has announced it will no longer edit pre-recorded interviews that air on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” The decision – which represents a major departure from the conventions of broadcast news programs – comes after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem objected to how producers edited a pre-recorded interview she did with the program this past Sunday. “Face the Nation” has been plagued with accusations that it selectively edits interviews to remove information or expressions of viewpoints by conservative newsmakers that go against liberal establishment narratives. The most recent example came last Sunday, when CBS excised unflattering remarks Ms. Noem made about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the illegal migrant from El Salvador. “Face the Nation” previously was denounced for removing from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s pre-recorded interview remarks that were critical of President Biden’s lack of support for Hurricane Helene victims.In a statement on Friday, CBS, a subsidiary of Paramount, said, “In response to audience feedback over the past week, we have implemented a new policy for greater transparency in our interviews. ‘Face the Nation’ will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews (subject to national security or legal restrictions).”“This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS, and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online,” the statement added.CBS News’s Margaret Brennan is seen during her recent confrontation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Paramount GlobalFriday night, Puck’s Dylan Byers reported that, “I’m reliably told that the D.H.S. had been threatening litigation over the matter, which no doubt helped spur this latest round of acquiescence from Paramount. Presumably, new boss David Ellison didn’t see any reason to die on this hill.”The change comes as executives at the new owner of CBS, Skydance Media, committed in writing – multiple times – to unbiased journalism. The chief executive of Skydance, David Ellison, told reporters last month that he wants to turn CBS News into a network that Americans from both sides of the political spectrum feel they can watch.The commitments sparked speculation about what they mean for the future of CBS News, which has long been accused for decades of exhibiting chronic, left-wing, anti-Israel bias. Skydance executives previously pledged to hire an ombudsman for at least two years to evaluate allegations of bias at the network. That position has yet to be filled. Even before Skydance’s commitments were made public, Paramount promised – as part of its settlement with President Trump to resolve his $20 billion lawsuit against CBS over its editing of Vice President Harris’ October 2024 interview with “60 Minutes” – that “60 Minutes” would release the transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates. Margaret Brennan (R) and Norah O’Donnell (L) have been accused of exhibiting liberal bias during the vice presidential debate. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesSince Skydance officially took over CBS News, media journalists and conservatives have been keeping an eye on the network for clues about what steps the new owner would take to honor his commitment to fair journalism. An early test for Skydance came from “Face the Nation,” which has been accused of selectively editing interviews with Republican officials multiple times in the past year. In October of last year, House Speaker Mike Johnson complained after “Face the Nation With Margaret Brennan” edited out comments he made in a pre-taped interview about President Biden’s response to Hurricane Helene.Last Sunday, “Face the Nation” came under fire again for a pre-recorded interview with Ms. Noem, during which she discussed Mr. Abrego Garcia.The CBS News personality Margaret Brennan, as she makes an observation about free speech and the Holocaust on her program, ‘Face the Nation’. CBS NewsIn the taped version of the interview — conducted by a substitute for Ms. Brennan, Ed O’Keefe — that aired on the program, CBS News producers edited out a key portion of Ms. Noem’s remarks when she made unflattering comments about Mr. Abrego Garcia. In the excised remarks, Mr. Noem said, “This individual was a known human smuggler, an MS-13 gang member, and an individual who is a wife beater, and someone who is so perverted that he solicited nude photos from minors, and even his fellow human traffickers told him to knock it off. He was so sick in what he was doing and how he was treating small children. So, he needs to never be in the United States of America, and our administration is making sure we’re doing all that we can.”In both cases, CBS News defended the editing and said it met the network’s editorial standards, as it noted the full interviews and transcripts were posted online. The change CBS News has announced pushes against the conventions of Sunday morning public affairs programs. Highly sought newsmakers will appear on multiple programs that air simultaneously, engaging in a move known inside network television news as a “round robin.” They pre-tape the interviews with two to three networks first, then do the third interview live. Forcing pre-tapes to be aired “as-live” on CBS could create problems for producers who must pretape interviews, then turn them around to fit exactly within a segment of a rundown.The ongoing allegations of bias have led to questions about whether Skydance executives would take action, such as firing Ms. Brennan or her higher paid and more controversial colleagues, Scott Pelley and Gayle King.Speaker Mike Johnson appears on CBS News ‘Face the Nation.’ He would later denounce the progam. CBS NewsMs. Brennan has also faced criticism after she fact-checked Vice President Vance during the 2024 vice presidential debate – despite the network’s promise that it would not engage in fact-checking – and declined to give the same treatment to Governor Tim Walz. In February, Ms. Brennan faced calls for her firing after she claimed the Nazis “weaponized” free speech to carry out the Holocaust. The decision to stop editing “Face the Nation” interviews appears to be the first Paramount has taken since the merger to address allegations of bias and seems to be an attempt at a measured approach to placate both sides, as firing or Ms. Brennan or otherwise trying to put internal guardrails on the program would likely spark an uproar among the staff and drastically erode the tenuous trust with the news bosses as staffers waits to see whether they will be able to operate with the same level of editorial independence as they have for years.

CBS News Crumbles Under Pressure From Noem, Says ‘Face the Nation With Margaret Brennan’ Will No Longer Edit Interviews

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