CBS named in federal complaint over its decision to make Harris look coherent
CBS has been named in a federal complaint for its decision to make Kamala Harris look coherent following its taping of a recent interview.
To do that, the network recorded an answer she made early in the recording, then subbed it in for the word salad she actually delivered to a later question.
Fox News said the complaint accused CBS News of “significant and intentional news distortion.”
The filing was from the Center for American Rights and was submitted to the Federal Communications Commission.
The report noted, “CBS News has taken heat in recent days for airing two different answers to the same question in its ’60 Minutes’ interview last week with Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris was mocked by conservatives when footage of her offering a lengthy ‘word salad’ was aired by CBS’ ‘Face the Nation’ to promote the ’60 Minutes’ sit-down, when Bill Whitaker asked why it seemed like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t listening to the U.S.”
But, the report said, the network changed Harris’ answer in the video before it was aired.
The center charged that the decision to swap answers was a “deliberate news distortion – a violation of FCC rules governing broadcasters’ public interest obligations.”
“This isn’t just about one interview or one network,” center president Daniel Suhr explained. “This is about the public’s trust in the media on critical issues of national security and international relations during one of the most consequential elections of our time.
“When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself. The FCC must act swiftly to restore public confidence in our news media,” he said.
The complaint pointedly noted that CBS has so far refused to release the actual transcript.
WND has reported several times on scandals involving CBS and its bias toward Democrats.
There even were calls earlier for it to report its air time, given to Kamala Harris, as a campaign donation to her campaign.
The network staged a vice presidential debate with biased moderators, edited a Harris interview to actually insert an answer in place of her word salad, and prompted U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson to charge improper editing and bias.
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.
But CBS selectively edited OUT ENTIRELY this first-hand perspective. pic.twitter.com/ZjO5LWdtsM
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 15, 2024
Apparently, CBS also doesn’t want you to hear about Virginia Gov. Youngkin, who is trying to clean the state’s voter rolls so non-American citizens can’t vote there.
We need more states doing this, but the Biden-Harris Administration is SUING VIRGINIA and trying to STOP it. pic.twitter.com/10JIJSNkPR
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 15, 2024
CBS has been under fire for selectively editing their interviews to PROMOTE Democrats and UNDERMINE Republicans.
Yesterday, they chose to cut FIVE important minutes out of my nearly 15 minute interview.
You can be the judge as to why.
Stand by for the receipts. pic.twitter.com/Rv4PK1Cv1W
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) October 15, 2024
It was a commentary at the Twitchy website that monitors social media reports that explained under its headline, “Speaker Johnson reveals deceptive CBS interview manipulation and brings ALL the receipts,” that not only does the legacy network edit interviews to “HELP Democrats” then “also edit interviews to try and make Republicans look dumb.”
Johnson posted online the evidence and told viewers, “You can be the judge as to why.”
He explained, “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. But CBS selectively edited OUT ENTIRELY this first-hand perspective.”
Further, he said, “Apparently, CBS also doesn’t want you to hear about Virginia Gov. Youngkin, who is trying to clean the state’s voter rolls so non-American citizens can’t vote there. We need more states doing this, but the Biden-Harris Administration is SUING VIRGINIA and trying to STOP it.”
It gets worse, he confirms, “The Biden-Harris Admin let millions of illegal aliens in our country. So, the House passed the SAVE Act to ensure only American citizens vote in American elections. CBS edited that out and focused on 2020 instead of immediate threats to election integrity.”
WND reported earlier when the network confirmed its support for Harris, by inserting into an interview an answer that she had not delivered to that question.
See the video (Please be aware of one scatological reference to her comments in the video description):
Holy. Shit.
60 Minutes cut Kamala’s nonsense answer on Israel and replaced it with a completely seperate sentence she said earlier in the interview…
Mixing and matching questions and answers. This isn’t journalism. It’s fraud.pic.twitter.com/onXli46xL6
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) October 8, 2024
The interview included Bill Whitaker asking: “But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening?”
Harris’ actual response: “Well, Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region.”
Then “60 Minutes” edited her response, apparently to make it better?
Bill Whitaker: “But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening?”
Harris: “We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”
Talk show host Glenn Beck also commented:
If social media platforms have to answer to Congress for election interference, so should CBS News if it deceptively edited Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview. pic.twitter.com/o5k3d9B91k
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) October 11, 2024
#Trump: ’60 Minutes and #CBS should lose their license’ for ‘single greatest scandal in broadcast history’ #media #Election2024 @mariabartiromo pic.twitter.com/uumW8UtulO
— WorldNetDaily (@worldnetdaily) October 13, 2024
It was during the JD Vance-Tim Walz vice presidential debate that CBS’ bias was on show. WND reported then that there were accusations of “unethical journalistic malpractice” for a moderator.
While both moderators, Nora O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, previously had expressed criticism of President Donald Trump, it was Brennan’s behavior toward Vance that prompted an editorial in the Washington Examiner that described her behavior:
After Vance detailed how President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris “brought in millions of illegal immigrants,” some of whom are overwhelming schools and hospitals and driving up housing prices, Brennan jumped in to editorialize, asserting, “Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status — temporary protected status.”
Vance responded, “Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on.” He then gave a detailed and accurate explanation of how Biden and Harris created a smartphone app called the CBP One app that lets illegal immigrants fly into the United States and receive temporary “parole” status that expires in two years.
“That is the facilitation of illegal immigration, Margaret,” Vance explained, “by our own leadership. And Kamala Harris opened up that pathway.” Brennan then cut Vance’s microphone.
The commentary noted it was “unethical journalistic malpractice. She falsely or misleadingly fact-checked the Republican’s comments and then, instead of facilitating a proper airing of the issue, silenced the candidate who was making them and the Democrat look ignorant and dishonest.”
WATCH: Trump sounds alarm about ‘bigger problem’ on Election Day
WATCH: ’60 Minutes’ uses deceptive editing to make Kamala Harris look coherent
CBS partisan assigned to vice presidential debate accused of ‘unethical journalistic malpractice’