Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel accused former President Donald Trump of making "threats against free speech," CNN reported. Trump called for CBS News to face penalties for deceptively editing the 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.
Trump hammered CBS News over an interview that aired Monday. Several clips were released leading up to the broadcast that conflicted with what viewers saw during the official broadcast.
As Trump pointed out on Thursday on his Truth Social, the network engaged in "a giant Fake News scam" that changed Harris' responses to "make her look better" for the sake of her campaign. "60 Minutes is a major part of the News Organization of CBS, which has just created the Greatest Fraud in Broadcast History," Trump wrote.
"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. Rosenworcel banned him from action against the network as the FCC "does not and will not revoke licenses for broadcast stations simply because a political candidate disagrees with or dislikes content or coverage."
Trump was trying to convey how biased the network was in favor of a particular political candidate. CBS News had an agenda in editing the show that way, but Rosenworcel claimed that the former president was the problem.
"While repeated attacks against broadcast stations by the former President may now be familiar, these threats against free speech are serious and should not be ignored. As I’ve said before, the First Amendment is a cornerstone of our democracy," Rosenworcel said.
This comes just a month after Trump spoke out against ABC for its bias during the presidential debate. According to USA Today, Rosenworcel claimed the combination of these two complaints amounted to a dangerous worldview.
Still, there's no denying that CBS News edited Harris's remarks to make her look better. University of Maryland journalism professor Mark Feldstein believes that fact is no reason to revoke the network's license, which the FCC is not authorized to do anyway.
"Yes and it's standard procedure in news programming," he told USA Today. "TV news programs regularly edit interviews – as do other news outlets – to fit time and space constraints The question is whether the responses used are out of context or an unfair representation of what the interviewee said,"Feldstein added.
Trump is correct that these networks are meddling in elections by favorably editing content for the Democratic candidate beyond normal television practices. Unfortunately, even with that advantage, not much can be done to make Harris look like a competent candidate.
The side-by-side of the clips shared by comedian Tim Young on X, formerly Twitter, showed how terrible both answers were when asked about the future of the war between Israel and Hamas. The network squandered its integrity to try to help Harris but still failed miserably.
"CBS's 60 minutes didn't just cut Kamala's rambling answer down to make her sound coherent. They completely replaced the answer to the question she was asked. This absolutely has to be against broadcast standards," Young captioned the videos.
CBS's 60 minutes didn't just cut Kamala's rambling answer down to make her sound coherent.
They completely replaced the answer to the question she was asked.
This absolutely has to be against broadcast standards. pic.twitter.com/mVyDAL2uXC
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) October 10, 2024
Democrats are circling the wagons around Harris every step of the way. Even with the full backing and power of the media, they are stuck with a subpar, profoundly unlikeable candidate.
