CBS News says that it is changing its interview policy for the Sunday public affairs show Face the Nation, after edits to an interview with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem drew pushback from the administration and from media critics.
“In response to audience feedback over the past week, we have implemented a new policy for greater transparency in our interviews,” a CBS News spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter. “Face the Nation will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews (subject to national security or legal restrictions). 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.”
Noem was a guest on last week’s Face the Nation, which is moderated by Margaret Brennan, and was asked about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man who has been at the center of a dispute over the administration’s deportation efforts. CBS News cut down Noem’s interview, including 25 seconds in which Noem lists a number of crimes that he is accused of. The Department of Homeland Security subsequently said that the segment was “selectively edited.”
“This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia,” Noem said in a statement after the episode aired. “Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.”
CBS did publish the full, unedited interview online, and had released a full transcript, with the network responding to DHS by saying that the interview “was edited for time and met all CBS News standards.”
However, backlash from media critics, as well as an FCC complaint filed by the Center for American Rights, have ramped up pressure on the network, which of course settled a contentious lawsuit with President Trump over an edit to an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last year. In connection with that settlement, CBS agreed to release a full transcript for all future interviews that 60 Minutes conducts with presidential candidates.
CBS News is also actively searching for an ombudsman, a role that would presumably be actively involved in complaints like the one CBS received over the Noem interview.
That said, the policy change also reflects a broader change in the media landscape, where trust in news outlets is at an all time low, while freewheeling digital hosts routinely publish hours-long conversations with guests.
Some veteran news executives believe that mainstream TV news organizations will need to be more forthcoming with complete videos and transcripts moving forward. Though as the CBS-Noem controversy shows, publishing full interviews online and providing transcripts may not be enough to blunt the criticism.
