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CV NEWS FEED // CBS News needs to publish the full, unedited transcript of its recent interview with Kamala Harris at risk of being accused of journalistic malpractice, according to the Free Press.
The Free Press reported that CBS News appears to have rearranged clips of the interview to make Harris’ responses appear better, likely violating CBS News’ standards guide.
In a clip posted to X on October 6 by CBS’ Face the Nation, Harris answered a question about the relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the White House, responding to the critique that “it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening.”
“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,” Harris responded.
However, an October 7 prime-time 60 Minutes special featured a different answer from Harris, this time showing her responding to the same question with: “We’re 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.”
According to the Free Press, CBS News’ standards guide states that “answers to different questions may not be combined to give the impression of one continuous response.”
“We cannot create an answer merely because we wish the subject had said it better,” the guide adds.
The Free Press noted, “Excessive editing distorts reality — which is the opposite of what good journalism is supposed to do” and pointed out that CBS News has not yet provided a transcript of the interview.
According to FOX News, politicians and other news outlets have also been pressuring CBS News to release the unedited transcript to provide clarity.
“With even the Harris-Walz campaign disavowing CBS’ hack editing job of Bill Whitaker’s interview with the Democratic nominee, the network’s only hope of regaining any credibility is to release the full transcript,” read a New York Post editorial.
Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) also called for the full transcript on X, saying, “The transcript will speak for itself and there is no reason not to clear the air.”
The Federalist’s editor-in-chief, Mollie Hemingway, posted on X that “The fact that CBS @60Minutes is refusing to release the full, unedited transcript of its interview with Kamala Harris is a huge scandal.”
Hemingway added, “Suggests that much of the entire finished product was manipulative and deceitful, and not just the one horrible example that was discovered.”.
The Free Press noted that Donald Trump called more attention to the suspected journalistic malpractice with an October 10 post on X, calling it “the Greatest Fraud in Broadcast History.”
“CBS should lose its license, and it should be bid out to the Highest Bidder, as should all other Broadcast Licenses, because they are just as corrupt as CBS — and maybe even WORSE!” he added.
“Overblown? Perhaps,” the Free Press added. “But the media invites such criticism when it breaks trust with the public by appearing to ride roughshod over their own rules.”
The backlash over the interview is not the first time CBS News has come under fire this month. As CatholicVote reported, CBS News criticized one of its own journalists, Tony Dokoupil, for asking “tough questions” in an interview about a book dealing with Hamas-Israel relations.
