Now that Donald Trump is accusing CBS News of election interference and is threatening to sue the liberal news outlet, an FCC commissioner says deliberately distorting the news is a legitimate topic for the powerful federal commission to consider.
CBS aired one part of Kamala Harris's answer to a question about Israel from its '60 Minutes' correspondent on Oct. 6 and then aired a shorter, different part of the answer a day later.
They aired different parts of Harris' answer to the same '60 Minutes' question.
Bottom line: "60 Minutes" is in hot water again because they were interfering with what you think Kamala Harris thinks about Israel.
And the "news" media, in general, is coming under scrutiny, in part because they seem to have no restraint in their attempts to deceive and mislead.
Be informed, not misled.
CBS News has been under public scrutiny for weeks for its “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, particularly for her answer about Israel-U.S. relations. Harris, known for her "word salad" comments, delivered a surprisingly succinct answer in the Monday evening TV special that aired Oct. 7 in primetime.
Some alert TV viewers, however, recalled a teasing segment that aired Sunday on “Face the Nation.” In that segment, the vice president’s rambling answer about U.S.-Israel relations appeared to be completely different from the answer that aired a day later, which suggested heavy work by dishonest editors.
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
CBS is feeling the heat.
Former President Donald Trump is accusing 60 Minutes of deceitful editing of our Oct. 7 interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is false.
60 Minutes gave an excerpt of our interview to Face the Nation that used a longer section of her answer than that on 60 Minutes. Same question. Same answer. But a different portion of the response. When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete, or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point. The portion of her answer on 60 Minutes was more succinct, which allows time for other subjects in a wide ranging 21-minute-long segment.
Remember, Mr. Trump pulled out of his interview with 60 Minutes and the vice president participated.
Our long-standing invitation to former President Trump remains open. If he would like to discuss the issues facing the nation and the Harris interview, we would be happy to have him on 60 Minutes.
CBS has a history.
In a Fox News interview about the controversy, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington was asked if the former president has a legitimate case against CBS for its Harris interview. Although he refused to comment on a possible lawsuit, the commissioner said Section 326 states the FCC doesn’t have the authority to censor content. To launch any inquiry, he said, there must be evidence of “deliberate distortion,” such as a “yes” answer being substituted for a “no” answer in a news interview. He said that the commissioners have discussed that scenario in the past.
“So the Commission has certainly contemplated the possibility of distortionary reporting taking place via splicing," he told Fox News, which is itself a hated right-wing target of Democrats and the Far Left.
Regarding the formal CAR complaint against CBS, Simington concluded that it could be brought before the five-member Commission in the future.
“I don't think that this complaint is facially ridiculous,” he concluded, “and it would not be inappropriate for the Commission to take it up.”
You will recall that we published an article about the FCC's favoritism toward George Soros and his attempt to skirt the rules and buy about 200 radio stations.
The Commission made news for the controversial 3-2 vote that skirted its own rules to give billionaire George Soros control of a 200-station radio network.
Two commissioners, Simington and Brendan Carr, were the dissenting votes.
CBS News is also being criticized by House Speaker Mike Johnson for editing his interviews in a pre-taped segment for the "Face the Nation" program. Johnson or his staff taped the interviews and posted his full answers on X.
CBS News is facing mounting pressure to release the transcript of the full Harris interview to account for the discrepancy.
Meanwhile, former President Trump has called for the network to lose its broadcasting license, and former CBS staffers are demanding an outside probe to investigate the controversy.
Playing fast and loose with "Truth" is not new for the Network.
Lesley Stahl dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop scandal in 2020.
In the final days leading up to the 2020 election, then-President Trump famously sparred with "60 Minutes" veteran Lesley Stahl over the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, which had just been unearthed by The New York Post.
Trump insisted at the time that then-candidate Joe Biden was "in the midst of a scandal."
"He's not," Stahl gleefully replied.
"Of course he is, Lesley," Trump sternly doubled down.
"No, c'mon," Stahl continued to reject the president's claim, before lecturing him, "This is '60 Minutes' and we can't put on things that we can't verify."
CBS News eventually went on and verified the infamous laptop in 2022. After Biden was president.
Scott Pelley slammed the Trump administration's ‘debunked’ Wuhan lab leak theory.
In May 2020, "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley cast significant doubt on the Trump administration's assertions that the COVID pandemic stemmed from a lab leak in Wuhan, China.
At the time, Pelley told viewers, "Both the White House and the Chinese Communist Party have been less than honest" and instead hyped the credibility of Peter Daszak, president of the group EcoHealth Alliance and one of the most vocal foes of the lab leak theory. EcoHealth Alliance received government funding from the National Institutes of Health and has had a long working partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), which has increasingly been viewed as the possible origin for the disastrous pandemic."
Pelley lamented how the Trump administration abruptly ended EcoHealth's funding because of a "political disinformation campaign targeting China's Wuhan Institute."
CBS News has now said its report was based on the facts known at that time. But fast-forward to March 2021, when Pelley's colleague Lesley Stahl declared a potential lab leak a "leading theory" about the pandemic's origin.
In April 2021, "60 Minutes" pushed the false narrative that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was engulfed in a "pay for play" scheme involving COVID vaccines.
A preview clip released ahead of the full report's airing showed "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi confronting the governor at a press conference over allegations that he rewarded Publix, a southern supermarket chain with more than 850 Florida locations, with COVID vaccines after the company made a sizable donation to his PAC.
As it turned out, CBS had it all wrong.
There are a number more of these kinds of incidents.
Takeaway
In each case, the misleading actions of the network were directed toward Republicans.
Winston Churchill said, "The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."
Leo Tolstoy said, "The truth is obtained like gold, not by letting it grow bigger, but by washing off from it everything that isn't gold."
John 8:32 - "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Jesus is the Truth.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Engaged. Be Prayerful. VOTE.