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FCC Commissioner Calls For Investigation Into CBS News After Seemingly Editing Kamala Interview

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2 months ago

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A member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has asked the body’s chair to take up a complaint filed with the FCC that seeks the release of the full transcript from its “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, according to a report from The Daily Caller.

CBS News has been under intense scrutiny after the network aired two separate broadcasts with different answers from Vice President Harris to the same question. Interviewer Bill Whitaker asked whether Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is “listening” to the Biden-Harris administration.

“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 said in a preview for the “60 Minutes” interview. Her answer was different when the sit-down aired the following night.

“We are not gonna stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end,” Harris said in the version that aired.

(VOTE: Should ’60 Minutes’ Be Investigated For Deceptively Editing Kamala Interview?)

FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington told the Daily Caller that while the commission often receives frivolous and unfounded complaints in response to news coverage, the October 16 complaint levied by the Center for American Rights (CAR) against WCBS, CBS’ New York subsidiary, is a serious matter that should be investigated fully.

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“The FCC does not regulate, or really even respond to, allegations of politically unfavorable coverage or legitimate editorial discretion,” Simington wrote in a statement to the outlet. “The recent complaint regarding WCBS-TV raises a fully different set of issues regarding whether or not coverage was intentionally distorted: reporting that something was said in response to a question that literally was not. I don’t know whether that’s true, but it’s a different issue.”

A person familiar with the FCC told the Daily Caller that CAR’s complaint will likely face hurdles moving forward, as commission chair Jessica Rosenworcel, a Democrat, is unlikely to act on the complaint. The complaint could still be pursued in the event of a Trump victory, however, as a Republican commissioner could launch an investigation.

When CBS and its subsidiaries go to renew their broadcasting licenses, a Republican-led FCC could place certain restrictions on a renewal agreement, including a stipulation that the “60 Minutes” transcript would be released, the source told the Daily Caller.

“CBS crosses a line when its production reaches the point of so transforming an interviewee’s answer that it is a fundamentally different answer. This, CBS may not do,” the CAR complaint states. “Here, CBS has taken a single question and transformed Harris’ answer such the general public no longer has any confidence as to what the Vice President actually said in response to the query.”

“This isn’t just about one interview or one network. This is about the public’s trust in the media on critical issues of national security and international relations during one of the most consequential elections of our time,” Daniel Suhr, CAR president, told the Daily Caller. “When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself. The FCC must act swiftly to restore public confidence in our news media.”

The Trump Campaign has called for CBS and its broadcasting subsidiaries to be stripped of licensing if the allegations are proven,

“The American people deserve the full, unedited transcript from Kamala’s sit-down interview,” campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told The New York Post. “We call upon 60 Minutes and CBS to release it. What do they, and Kamala, have to hide?”

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