The FCC on Tuesday shot down a CBS bid to immediately dismiss complaints from conservative groups over a “60-minute” interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris just weeks before the election.
The show drew criticism from the American Rights Center and then presidential candidate Donald Trump for broadcasting some of Harris' answers to questions about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and another part of Harris' answers about “Face the Nation.”
He easily won the Vice President, suing CBS for $20 billion and claiming that “60 Minutes” had a look at the interview to interfere in the election.
“The transcripts and unedited interview footage show that CBS is engaged in common editing practices,” CBS, owned by Paramount Global, said in a filing released Tuesday.
The network called on the FCC to dismiss the complaint “without delay.”
However, FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr quickly pushed back the idea; Reuters There is still an investigation going on Tuesday.
“We are not approaching my view at this point in a position to dismiss the complaint,” he said.
Paramount is seeking FCC approval for the $8.4 billion merger with SkyDance Media. This is a deal that Paramount's dominant stakeholder Shari Redstone hoped had already closed.
CBS cited a handful of conservative advocacy groups last week that warned that the FCC lawsuit against CBS “violates the First Amendment and chill speech.”
The Tiffany Network said the lawsuit was intended to “turn the FCC into full-time content censorship.”
The FCC is currently checking whether “60-minute” broadcasts violate the “News Distortion” rules. The agency is prohibited from censoring or infringing the media's initial right to amend, but the broadcaster cannot intentionally distort the news.
The American Civil Liberties Union separately said there was no basis for an investigation, Reuters reported. “Performing a news distortion investigation without fragments of evidence appears to be intended to chill those who harass and disgust CBS,” the group said.
Under Carr, the FCC has revived complaints about a “60-minute” interview with Harris and how Disney's ABC News eased pre-election television debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump. He also revived Comcast's complaints about NBC to allow Harris to appear on Saturday Night Live just before the election.
Kerr's predecessor, Jessica Rosenwarqule; Initially, they rejected these complaints. January.
