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FCC released ’60 Minutes’ Interview with Kamala Harris – CBS responds

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released the unedited version of Kamala Harris’s 60 Minutes interview on Wednesday.

Last week, reports emerged that the FCC was investigating CBS for allegedly editing the interview in a misleading manner. Brendan Carr, FCC Chair under President Trump, had demanded that CBS provide the full, unedited transcript of the interview.

CBS News responded by publishing the same transcript and video provided to the FCC, stating:

“In reporting the news, journalists regularly edit interviews for time, space, or clarity. In making these edits, 60 Minutes is always guided by the truth and what we believe will be most informative to the viewing public—all while working within the constraints of broadcast television. The full transcript shows that we edited the interview to ensure that as much of the vice president’s answers as possible were included in our original broadcast while fairly representing those answers. 60 Minutes’ hard-hitting questions of the vice president speak for themselves.”

The controversy centers on a specific question about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was listening to the Biden-Harris administration. CBS aired different versions of Harris’s response on Face the Nation and 60 Minutes, leading to accusations that the network had altered her answer.

CBS is also reportedly in discussions to settle a $10 billion lawsuit brought by President Trump over the interview. According to CNN, reports of a potential settlement have caused frustration among CBS staff.

“Trump’s lawsuit was a joke, but if we settle, we become the laughingstock,” an unnamed CBS correspondent told CNN.

Executives at CBS are also concerned that ongoing litigation could interfere with Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance Media. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump’s dissatisfaction with CBS News could complicate the regulatory review process for the deal.

In October, Trump sued CBS, alleging that 60 Minutes had deceptively edited Harris’s interview. The lawsuit claimed that CBS’s conduct caused harm to Trump, his campaign, and millions of American voters.

Critics argue that 60 Minutes altered Harris’s response to make her appear more coherent. The original interview exchange was:

Bill Whitaker: “But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening?”
Kamala Harris: “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.”

However, the broadcast version featured a different response:

Bill Whitaker: “But it seems that Prime Minister Netanyahu is not listening?”
Kamala Harris: “We are not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end.”

Critics argue that CBS selectively replaced Harris’s response with a sentence from another part of the interview. The controversy has fueled accusations that the network engaged in deceptive editing rather than objective journalism.