Continuing the Trump administrations attacks on press independence, the Federal Communications Commission has asked CBS News to hand over the full, unedited transcript and camera feeds of an Oct. 7 interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris on “60 Minutes.”
“Late Wednesday, CBS News was sent a Letter of Inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission asking for the full, unedited transcript and camera feeds from our interview with Vice President Harris which aired on October 7, 2024,” a spokesperson for the network told TheWrap on Friday. “We are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do.”
An FCC spokesperson did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
The inquiry comes as president Donald Trump is suing CBS for $10 billion accusing, the network of “partisan and unlawful acts of election and voter interference” over the editing of Harris’ response to a question on Gaza that was different from what was featured in an earlier promo. Trump has also previously called for CBS to lose its broadcast license.
Though CBS has maintained that Trump’s accusations of deceitful editing are false, its parent company Paramount Global has entered talks with Trump’s team about a possible settlement as it looks to get its pending $8 billion merger with Skydance Media through its FCC review, according to The New York Times.
On Friday, attorneys for Trump filed a request to postpone a deadline to respond to CBS’ motion to dismiss by Feb. 7, which was approved by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Amarillo Division. The two parties must meet and confer on or before Feb. 11 and file a joint proposed scheduling order on or before Feb. 18, according to the court. Defendants must file pleadings, motions or a reply briefing on or before March 7.
In addition to Trump’s lawsuit, The Center for American Rights, a conservative group that self-describes as “nonpartisan public interest law firm,” has accused New York’s WCBS-TV of “news distortion” over the “60 Minutes” interview. FCC chairman Brendan Carr has said that complaint would “likely arise” in his review of the Skydance transaction, which is required due to a transfer of broadcast licenses.
In a separate petition with the FCC, the Center for American Rights said CBS News has a “troubling track record of ideological bias and news manipulation” and that CBS Television has “apparently engaged in illegal racial quotas for its hiring.” It also said Tencent Holdings’ minority stake of less than 5% in Skydance raises “troubling questions about undue foreign influence from China.”
It has asked that the Paramount-Skydance merger approval be conditioned upon a commitment to promote viewpoint diversity, avoid foreign influence and treat all employees and candidates equally without regard to race or gender. It also requested that the FCC coordinate its review with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) due to Tencent’s recent designation as a “Chinese military company” by the Department of Defense.
In a statement, FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez warned of the clear political nature of these actions, writing in a statement, “During these last two weeks, the FCC has shown a concerning pattern of implementing the will of the Administration on issues that go far beyond our core responsibilities. These actions disregard long-standing norms and ignore the mandate granted by Congress to the FCC to act as an independent agency. They also set a dangerous precedent that threatens to undermine trust in the agency’s role as an impartial regulator.”
“This latest action to weaponize our broadcast licensing authority is no different. It revives a complaint that had been previously dismissed by FCC experts due to lack of evidence and because it fell far short of the high standard needed for agency action,” Gomez continued. “Let’s be clear. This is a retaliatory move by the government against broadcasters whose content or coverage is perceived to be unfavorable. It is designed to instill fear in broadcast stations and influence a network’s editorial decisions.”
The Communications Act clearly prohibits the Commission from censoring broadcasters and the First Amendment protects journalistic decisions against government intimidation. We must respect the rule of law, uphold the Constitution, and safeguard public trust in our oversight of broadcasters.”
Paramount and Skydance have called for the objection to the merger to be dismissed, arguing its viewpoint neutrality condition would “improperly encroach on broadcasters’ editorial discretion” and violate the First Amendment. The companies also said allegations of Chinese influence and racial discrimination have “no factual foundation and are legally unavailing” and that Tencent’s “entirely passive, non-attributable, minority interests present no basis for concern about undue influence.”
But the Center for American Rights argues that the 5% percent foreign ownership threshold is “not a hard-and-fast rule” and that Tencent’s designation as a Chinese military company should “refute the presumption under these circumstances.”
It added that its proposed conditions could be met by adding board members from different geographies, industries, backgrounds and political persuasions; creating an “independent, empowered, balanced ombudsman” similar to Meta’s Oversight board; putting executive and editorial staff in cities besides New York and Los Angeles to “ensure a balanced set of viewpoints”; and committing to an “ideologically diverse hiring pipeline.”
In addition to the Center for American Rights, the FCC has received petitions of opposition from Paramount shareholder Mario Gabelli, Hollywood’s Teamsters union, the Latino-owned entertainment company Fuse Media, and LiveVideoAI.Corp. The Skydance deal is on track to close in the first half of 2025.
