CBS Drifts Further Toward Right-Wing State Television

After President Donald Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem complained on X that several minutes of her Aug. 31 “Face the Nation” interview had been “shamefully edited … to whitewash the truth,” CBS News announced that its flagship Sunday morning program will no longer edit its interviews, except for “legal or national security” reasons.

According to the Associated Press, CBS said it had edited the interview, which ran 16 minutes and 40 seconds in its original form, for length, and posted the full interview on its website and YouTube. As the AP correctly noted, Noem “made a series of unproven accusations about Ábrego García” in the portion of the interview that was cut. This is a pattern of behavior by the administration with respect to Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran refugee who had been illegally deported to the CECOT concentration camp in his country of origin.

In the context of the recent capitulations by CBS News and its parent company Paramount in the face of Trump administration demands, the announcement is noteworthy — and dangerous.

Uneditable propaganda

Writing for FAIR, Ari Paul noted in July that, in order to facilitate a merger with Skydance,

Paramount has settled what is widely regarded as a frivolous lawsuit from Trump for $16 million over a CBS “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris; it has also canceled its highly successful and long-running “Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” whose host was critical of the settlement.

Variety argued that CBS‘ promise not to edit “Face the Nation‘s” interviews, which overwhelmingly feature government officials,

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.

An anonymous CBS source weakly protested to the AP that “Face the Nation‘s” Brennan would “still be able to factcheck or challenge claims made by interview subjects.” But corporate media outlets have never been good at stopping political figures from spewing propaganda, particularly those from Trump and his minions, who produce falsehoods at such a rapid clip that it’s impossible to challenge each one. Now CBS will have even fewer tools to do so.

Installing a commissar

In yet another move to the right, days after its editing announcement, CBS News announced that, to fulfill part of its settlement with Trump, it would be appointing Kenneth R. Weinstein to serve as an ombudsman. In addition to being a prominent conservative — Weinstein previously headed the Hudson Institute for over a decade — the new appointee was nominated by Trump to be U.S. ambassador to Japan in 2020 (though his nomination was never confirmed). Weinstein “will review editorial questions and concerns from outside entities and employees,” CBS said.

While FAIR has lamented the gradual disappearance of ombuds from major journalistic outlets over the years, and the loss of accountability to their audiences that that entails, it’s critical that ombuds be independent. Weinstein’s clear ideological tilt, his connection to the Trump administration and his position’s creation at the command of that administration stand as obvious obstacles to him performing any role but state censor.

FAIR also pointed out that Paramount was looking to give right-wing journalist and censorious “free speech” activist Bari Weiss a top role at CBS News. It has since been reported that the company is looking to buy her publication, the Free Press, for as much as $200 million.