Well, folks, the mainstream media is up to its old tricks again, and this time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is getting dragged into the mess.
CBS’ beloved 60 Minutes is under fire for its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, and the accusations flying around are serious enough that FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is getting involved. Apparently, CBS may have done some “creative editing” in a way that could fall under the FCC’s “news distortion” rule—an accusation that isn’t just going away quietly.
Here’s the kicker. It’s not just some partisan complaint coming from a random corner of the conservative media landscape. No, the Center for American Rights (CAR) stepped in and filed a formal complaint with the FCC, accusing CBS of what they call “significant and intentional news distortion.” Their gripe? CBS allegedly aired two different answers to the exact same question in its 60 Minutes interview with Harris. Now, if that’s not some blatant narrative management, what is?
Republican Commissioner Nathan Simington has been pushing on this issue, calling for CBS to release the full, unedited transcript of the interview. He’s not buying the excuse CBS threw out that they just used a “more succinct” portion of Harris’ answer. After all, we’re not talking about shaving off a few unnecessary words here and there. If the network really swapped answers to the same question between Face the Nation and 60 Minutes, that goes beyond tidying up an interview—it’s deliberate deception.
Carr hit the nail on the head when he laid out what would constitute a violation of the FCC’s news distortion rule. If you take an answer like “yes” from one question and paste a “no” from a different one, that’s not just editorial liberty; it’s straight-up lying to the American public. And if the media’s doing that during one of the most important election cycles in modern history, what does that say about the state of journalism today?
Let’s not forget, the public’s trust in the media has been hanging by a thread for years now. And Daniel Suhr, CAR’s president, didn’t mince words when he said this isn’t just about one interview. This is about national security, international relations, and yes—about the public’s right to the truth. The media likes to paint itself as the bastion of democracy, but when it’s caught manipulating the facts, it undermines the very thing it claims to protect.
CBS isn’t helping its case by staying silent for weeks before finally releasing a half-hearted statement claiming no “deceitful editing” took place. According to them, it was just a matter of using a “more succinct” part of the answer. Really? The American public isn’t dumb. Editing is one thing, but crafting a narrative by distorting answers is another.
As Carr rightfully pointed out, CBS could clear this up in a heartbeat if they’d just release the transcript. If everything’s above board, what’s the harm in transparency? But, of course, transparency isn’t the media’s strong suit when it doesn’t suit their agenda.
This whole mess reminds us of the larger problem: the media’s willingness to manipulate the narrative when it suits them, even if it means bending or outright breaking the rules. It’s about time the FCC took these complaints seriously and stepped in to protect the public from these shady practices. If CBS has nothing to hide, they should welcome the opportunity to clear their name. Until then, the public will continue to question just how much of what they see on TV is real and how much is just carefully curated fiction to serve a political agenda.
