CBS News Agrees Not to Edit ‘Face The Nation’ Interviews Following Homeland Security Backlash

CBS News is giving up the power it has to hold “Face the Nation” interviewees to account.

The Paramount Skydance news unit said Friday it would cease editing taped interviews with newsmakers who appear on “Face the Nation” following complaints from the Trump administration over an appearance on the show earlier this week when U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem made a number of false or unproven statements about Kilmar Abergo Garcia, the Salvadoran man who was deported despite his having protected legal status in the United States. CBS News offered just a portion of the overall interview with Noem and made the full exchange available online.

Noem accused the news division of selectively editing footage.

CBS News’ move is an unorthodox one, potentially leaving show moderators and producers unable to remove false statements or propaganda uttered by political operatives and officials and undermining the authority and credibility of Margaret Brennan, the moderator of the Sunday public-affairs program. The edict is also risky, potentially giving viewers the sense that Brennan is less able to question or challenge her guests — one of the main elements of TV’s Sunday political shows that bring viewers to them in the first place.

The decision may even spur viewers to leave “Face the Nation,” one of the most-viewed among the so-called “Sunday shows,” and sample rivals such as NBC News’ “Meet the Press” or ABC News’ “This Week.” News aficionados have given up subscriptions to mainstream publications like The Washington Post in recent months when they are perceived to cede authority or placate those in power.

“In response to audience feedback over the past week, we have implemented a new policy for greater transparency in our interviews. ‘Face The Nation’ will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews (subject to national security or legal restrictions),” CBS News said in a Friday statement. “This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online.”

But it also means “Nation” could become a home of live grandstanding by interviewees from either side of the political aisle who would rather spout talking points than answer a question. And it suggests there is a level of naiveté on the part of the new owners of CBS News, a group led by CEO David Ellison, about the nature of TV journalism and its service to viewers.

Skydance is in talks, according to two people familiar with the matter, to acquire The Free Press, a digital-news outlet run by Bari Weiss, a well-regarded opinion writer who has tilted at extreme views, particularly those who are emblematic of the progressive “woke” movement. There is extreme concern among CBS News staffers that Weiss, who is expected to take a senior editorial role at CBS News if the deal is consummated, will steer the mainstream broadcast outlet into more partisan waters — something many news viewers (and the advertisers who want to reach them) say they don’t want.

Such decisions may wreak havoc on CBS News’ relationship with its viewers. According to a recent study by Pew Research Center, Republicans and independents who lean Republican who trust in mainstream news organizations hold CBS News in relatively high regard. About 35% of that group trusts CBS News, compared with 37% for NBC News, 40% for ABC News and 61% for Fox News Channel. CBS News has more trust from that cohort than outlets including PBS, CNN, The Joe Rogan Experience, The Wall Street Journal, Newsmax and The Daily Wire.

Live interviews were once more common on the Sunday programs, but new willingness by the networks to allow for conversations that do not take place in the studio — spurred by precautions during the coronavirus pandemic — have given producers and guests new leeway.

Showing viewers the most newsworthy portions of conversations with newsmakers is viewed as having more value than letting those same interview subjects run out the clock with talking points.

And while live interviews can be informative, making decisions that seem to come in response to backlash from public officials is not seen as sound journalistic practice.

“We are well beyond slippery-slope territory now.  A national news organization is apparently surrendering a major part of its editorial decision-making power to appease the administration and to bend to its implied and explicit threats. Choosing to edit an interview, or not, is a matter for newsrooms and news organizations to decide. The government has no business in that decision,” says Mark Lukasiewicz, Dean of Hofstra University’s School of Communication. “Yet this administration has shown it will use its vast powers — regulatory, investigative, prosecutorial, budgetary  — to bend institutions to its political will. The threat and reality of official retaliation looms ever larger over every journalist and newsroom in America. This is the wrong decision for CBS and for the future of a free press.”