60 Minutes / CBS
CBS has shown its true colors.
The home of Walter Cronkite and Dan Rather is no longer just a biased news organization.
That’s too kind.
For years, I’ve watched this network go from slanted reporting to straight-up propaganda, and now to sheer deceit. The past month has shown that Republicans should have nothing to do with it — and that former President Donald Trump is right to call attention to its chicanery with a threat of legal action.
First, CBS moderators broke the network’s own pledge not tofact-check during the vice-presidential debate, deliberately targeting GOP candidate J.D. Vance and doing so dishonestly.
Then came theinternal meltdown and hysterical staff meetings after “CBS Mornings” host Tony Dokoupil dared to ask Oct. 7 apologist Ta-Nehisi Coates challenging on-air questions about Coates’ new anti-Israel book.
After that, House Speaker Mike Johnson exposed CBS for cutting out a third of his recent “Face the Nation” interview.
Johnson’s team was smart: They recorded the interview and proved the deception for all to see.
The final straw came Sunday, when the network finally released a statement about its “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris, stemming from its Oct. 6 release of a teaser that showed her nonsensical answer to a question on Israel.
Social media erupted at this typical Harris word-salad exercise — but in the actual “60 Minutes” interview that aired a day later, Harris miraculously had a completely different answer.
Did CBS perform a selective edit to do crisis control on Harris’ behalf?
Instead of explaining the discrepancy, two weeks later CBS blamed — Donald Trump.
He had called the interview “deceptively edited,” to which CBS answered, “That is false.”
Their answer itself is a lie.
The interview was edited.
And it smells to high heaven.
Did network staffers do this of their own accord, or in cahoots with the Harris campaign?
Was the editing done in the interest of good journalism — or to make Harris look good?
CBS could easily clear up the matter by releasing the interview’s full transcript and video.
Instead, it’s responding like a liberal super PAC would.
This calls for a coordinated response.
Republicans would be smart to follow Johnson’s example if they choose to engage with CBS by insisting on recording their interviews themselves.
Better yet, they should boycott the network until it releases the full transcript and complete video of the Harris interview and discloses any communications with the Harris campaign or the Democratic National Committee between the airing of the teaser clip on Oct. 6 and the broadcast of the “60 Minutes” episode the next day.
Trump should lead the charge by announcing a refusal to engage with the network in any capacity — interviews, debates or any other events.
He’s already set the tone by refusing a “60 Minutes” sit-down before Election Day and calling for CBS tolose its license over its reporting scandals.
But these efforts must persist beyond 2024.
The fight isn’t just about the election, but about dismantling the corrupt media-Democrat alliance that undermines democracy itself.
I suspect many would follow Trump’s lead.
Americans are prepared to flush the commode:Gallup just found that only 31% of us express a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the media to report the news “fully, accurately and fairly.”
That’s an all-time low for that question, which Gallup first asked in 1972.
Another survey conducted recently by YouGov found that far fewer, only 7%, actually believe the media report the news truthfully.
Let’s not overlook the massive shift in news dissemination brought on by social media, particularly X.
It has created a new pathway for information that sidesteps the corporate-controlled narratives of the left-wing media.
As a result, conservative voices have become more visible and influential, and this trend is unlikely to reverse.
Politicians and news contributors can replace their appearances on CBS by collaborating with honest journalists who are carving out their own spaces in online reporting.
CBS has made it clear that it can no longer be trusted as an honest disseminator of news.
It has become nothing more than a propaganda arm of the Democrat Party.
We have an opportunity to change the narrative now.
Brent Bozell is the founder and president of the Media Research Center.