Federal Communications Commission (FCC) top Republican Brendan Carr claimed the agency is taking a recent formal complaint seriously over CBS’ alleged “distortion” of its “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“My FCC colleague, Republican Commissioner [Nathan] Simington, has been very active on this. What he’s pointed out is the news distortion rule is a very, very narrow rule at the FCC. In almost every case, it doesn’t apply because it could get into sort of editorial decisions that are protected by the First Amendment. But what he said is that CBS should release the transcript,” Commissioner Carr said on “Mornings with Maria” Tuesday.
“And the reason why this complaint is not frivolous is because the rules say, for instance, the example we’ve given is, if you take an answer to a question that is a ‘yes’ and you replace the answer of ‘no’ from a different question… that’s something that would potentially fall within the news distortion rule,” he expanded.
Last Wednesday, the Center for American Rights, also known as the CAR, filed a formal complaint with the FCC accusing CBS News of “significant and intentional news distortion.”
The CAR argued that the discrepancies “amount to deliberate news distortion – a violation of FCC rules governing broadcasters’ public interest obligations.”
The complaint insisted CBS release the unedited transcript of the interview to set the record straight, which echoes calls from former President Trump and many others.
“This isn’t just about one interview or one network,” CAR president Daniel Suhr said in a statement. “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. When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself. The FCC must act swiftly to restore public confidence in our news media.”
Carr added Tuesday that he agrees with the joint calls to release the full interview transcript, after reports that an interview tease on “Face the Nation” showed a different answer to the exact same question in the “60 Minutes” version.
“I don’t think this needs to be a federal case because I think CBS should release it… then that would inoculate, entirely, CBS from that FCC complaint,” Carr said.
He expanded that it’s a matter of “journalistic practice and newsworthiness.”
“In fact, I know people are reaching out to their local affiliates right now, asking them if they would release that transcript.”
After weeks of staying silent despite growing criticism over the interview, CBS published a statement Sunday evening addressing the outrage that ensued after airing two different answers to the same question in the “60 Minutes” interview earlier this month with the Democratic nominee.
CBS News’ statement said Trump’s claim the “deceitful editing” was used is “false,” and explained that producers used a “more succinct” portion of Harris’ answer.