By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – CBS on Monday urged the Federal Communications Commission to reject a complaint over a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, saying the agency has no lawful role in policing broadcast news editorial decisions.
CBS, which is owned by Paramount Global, said sanctioning the company over the interview “would blatantly violate the First Amendment by substituting the government’s editorial judgment for that of CBS and its journalists.”
A complaint alleges the interview violates the FCC’s rules on “news distortion.” The network broadcast a portion of the vice president’s answer on “Face the Nation” and a different one on “60 Minutes.”
“CBS engaged in ordinary editorial decision-making that involved no ‘distortion’,” the company said, adding that the FCC complaint “completely disregards both the letter and the spirit of the Commission’s news distortion policy.”
CBS turned over the unredacted video and transcript to the FCC that made it public as did the broadcaster.
Last month, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democrat, said the Republican-led agency is seeking to bully major U.S. broadcasters by reinstating a series of complaints.
She said the “60 Minutes” interview did not violate commission rules and said other complaints were improperly reinstated against Walt Disney’s and Comcast’s NBC.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr did not immediately comment.
President Donald Trump has sued CBS for $20 billion over the broadcast. Media reports have said Paramount representatives were in settlement talks to resolve the Trump lawsuit.
Paramount is seeking FCC approval for an $8.4-billion merger with Skydance Media.
Last month, the FCC reinstated complaints about the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris as well as about how ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump, as well as against NBC for letting Harris appear on “Saturday Night Live” just before the election she lost to Trump. The prior FCC chair had rejected those complaints.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)
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