CBS News said that Face the Nation will only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews following Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem‘s complaints over edits made to her appearance on the show on Sunday.
A CBS News spokesperson 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.”
Face the Nation has published full transcripts and unedited interviews online, but Noem complained that the broadcast “shamefully edited” an interview in which she made allegations about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the undocumented immigrant who has been at the center of much coverage about the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. She alleged that CBS News edited the interview “to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.”
Noem then posted video of her unaired response, in which she said of Abrego Garcia, “This individual was a known human smuggler, MS-13 gang member, an individual who’s a wife beater, and someone who was 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 to bring him to justice.”
But, as some commentators have noted, what was edited out were a number of unproven allegations, including that he was an MS-13 gang member. Politifact noted that no charges have been filed on that claim that Abrego Garcia solicited nude photos from minors, while his attorneys has said that the allegations are hearsay.
The new policy will put the onus on Face the Nation moderators to fact-check guests in real time. Ed O’Keefe had conducted the Noem interview, and was filling in for Margaret Brennan.
Face the Nation did post a transcript and video of the unedited interview on its website on Sunday. It included an editor’s note about the portion cut from the broadcast. “Kilmar Abrego Garcia has been charged with two counts of human smuggling and has pleaded not guilty. He is currently in ICE detention pending trial. He has not been charged with any counts related to child abuse,” the note read.
The new policy for Face the Nation follows Skydance’s just completed merger with CBS-parent Paramount. The regulatory approval of the merger was beset with President Donald Trump‘s lawsuit against the network over the way that another interview was edited, a 60 Minutes segment with Kamala Harris from October. Paramount Global settled the lawsuit for $16 million, even though many legal observers say that it was without merit. As part of the settlement, Paramount Global said that 60 Minutes will released transcripts with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after those interviews have aired.
As it sought FCC approval of the merger, Skydance also committed to hiring an ombudsman, tasked with taking complaints about coverage, while the chairman of the agency, Brendan Carr, has said that he would be “will be watching,” pointing to Skydance’s commitment to “addressing bias and restoring fact-based reporting.” The FCC’s authority over accuracy or bias in news coverage, however, is narrow, as the agency itself points out.
Edits to taped interviews are commonplace throughout the news business. Trump claimed that 60 Minutes tried to make Harris look better by making edits to her interview, but he himself has benefited from such trims. Earlier in 2024, Fox News trimmed a portion of his answer to a question when he was asked about declassifying files related to Jeffrey Epstein. On Fox & Friends, Trump’s answer was shown as, “Yeah, I would.” But his full answer, airing on Will Cain’s Fox News radio show, was, “Yeah, I would…I guess I would. I think that less so because, you don’t know, you don’t want to affect people’s lives if it’s phony stuff in there, because it’s a lot of phony stuff with that whole world.”
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