Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr plans to put the investigation into allegedly biased editing by “60 Minutes” into high gear after CBS News hands over the full transcript of its controversial interview with Kamala Harris, The Post has learned.
Carr vowed to launch a probe following a complaint by the Center for American Rights, a conservative activist group, which argued that the long-running show favorably edited the October sit-down with the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nominee.
In an exclusive interview with The Post on Monday, Carr said: “The FCC has had a prohibition against news distortion on our books for 50 years. It applies to broadcasters but not cable. A group brought a non-frivolous complaint, so the FCC is taking the next appropriate step in adjudicating the issue.
Carr, who was appointed by Trump to lead the agency, has not ruled out taking testimony from “60 Minutes” producers and correspondent Bill Whitaker, who conducted the Harris interview, people close to the matter told the Post.
“No decision has been made about additional steps,” Carr added.
CBS News begrudgingly agreed to hand over the transcript over the weekend after first balking at the demand by Trump, who has sued the Paramount Global-owned network for $10 billion for deceptively editing the Harris interview.
Carr has yet to receive the document but is expecting to have it in hand before the end of business on Monday, he said.
CBS said in a statement that Carr alerted the network last week about the inquiry and asked for the “full, unedited transcript and camera feeds from our interview with Vice President Harris, which aired on Oct. 7, 2024. We are working to comply with that inquiry as we are legally compelled to do.”
While the transcript demand refers specifically to the complaint filed by CAR, the outcome of Carr’s investigation has broader ramifications for Paramount, people close to the FCC told The Post.
The FCC is in the middle of reviewing Paramount’s $8 billion merger with independent studio Skydance, and Carr is said to be weighing whether CBS News’ overall coverage was politically biased against Trump and Republicans in general during the 2024 election cycle, as has been alleged.
FCC rules prohibit overt political bias, and subject networks to equal time provisions, when they broadcast news over public airwaves as opposed to cable, which doesn’t fall within such guidelines.
If Carr finds that there was deceptive editing, he could not only rule in favor of the Center for American Rights, but also throttle the Paramount-Skydance deal, which is set to close by March.
Among the potential remedies: Carr could demand concessions to ensure future fairness as a condition for final approval, the Post has learned.
A Skydance rep had no comment.
Trump could use whatever evidence comes from Carr’s investigation to advance his lawsuit against the network.
CBS News and Trump are in what has been described to The Post as “very preliminary settlement talks” over the lawsuit, filed in October in federal court in North Texas.
The Tiffany Network has denied there was any bias but may want to be rid of the legal scuffle with the president, similar to Disney’s decision to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Trump against ABC News after “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos claimed he was “liable for rape,” when no such verdict was rendered in a separate civil suit. Disney agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump’s presidential library and another $1 million in legal fees.
In a statement at the time of Trump’s lawsuit, CBS News said: “When we edit any interview, whether a politician, an athlete or movie star, we strive to be clear, accurate and on point.”
Carr is a longtime telecom activist and FCC commissioner before Trump named him to chair the agency. He made a name for himself raising questions about the Chinese-owned short-video app TikTok and whether the CCP is using the service for spycraft.
Harris, Joe Biden’s VP and running mate until the former president dropped out of the race last summer, is long known for providing incomprehensible answers, so-called word salad, when addressing simple questions on policy matters.
Criticism of the interview emerged after “60 Minutes” aired a promo for the segment where Harris appeared more coherent in answering a question involving the Middle East than when the final edited interview ran.
Proving outright bias as opposed to sloppy editing won’t be easy. And despite FCC rules on fairness, all news shows have significant First Amendment protections, particularly against government censorship.
But critics of the network say “60 Minutes” and CBS in general has devolved from unbiased news reporting over public airwaves that must abide by FCC fairness guidelines.
The network was once considered the gold standard of unbiased journalism, but conservative media critics say that in recent years it has increasingly tilted to the left.
That bias was on display, they claim, during the 2024 election cycle. They point to the constant fact-checking of Trump’s running mate JD Vance during the vice presidential debate hosted by the network.
Critics also cited the internal pressure imposed on “CBS Mornings” anchor Tony Dokoupil after his tough questioning of far-left writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, who penned a screed that attacked Israel for its response to the brutal Oct. 7 Hamas massacre.
