It was a blatant attempt at censorship. CBS News totally caved to the Trump administration after accusations of biased editing. But ESPN refused to bow to the pressure to edit out reactions to Trump’s appearance at the U.S. Open.
CBS folded immediately. But, ESPN forcefully pushed back on a demand from the tennis association to not air crowd reactions to President Trump at the men’s final, saying it would air what it wanted to air. It came to a drastically different conclusion about its policies.
The largest sports network stood up for its long-standing rules of showing high-profile attendees. It didn’t bow to censorship, and is to be commended. It makes me happy that in a world where Trump is suing networks and threatening journalists, the largest sports network basically said, screw you.
It makes me happy that in a world where Trump is suing networks and threatening journalists, the largest sports network basically said, screw you.
In a Face the Nation interview with Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security, she said the network “shamefully” cut out her comments about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was mistakenly deported in March. The uproar prompted an immediate change in editorial policy.
Initially, CBS said the interview was “edited for time and met all CBS News standards,” noting “the entire interview is publicly available on YouTube, and the full transcript was posted early Sunday morning at cbsnews.com.”
But later, CBS did a total flip. The network said it would no longer edit interviews on its Sunday show Face the Nation, and will only broadcast them if they are live or recorded live-to-tape, meaning the guests’ words will not be edited. Noem said that an important section of her interview was deleted, and published the full transcript on X.
A press release from DHS said that 23% of her interview was edited, including “exposing the truth about criminal illegal alien Kilmar Abrego Garcia, President Donald Trump’s lawful actions to protect the American people, and Secretary Noem’s commitment to fight on behalf of the American people and their tax dollars.”
Editing for time purposes, or clarity, is standard in the industry. When I have taped lengthy interviews with high-profile celebrities or politicians, I always edited their responses, in part so I could delve into more subjects. Politicians especially know how to filibuster on air. Not editing out redundant or irrelevant points makes it impossible to address more than one or two questions. Changing this long-held practice diminishes the quality of reporting for the viewers. Some say it will bolster credibility. Not so fast.
The radical change in policy can be laid at the feet of the new leader of CBS’ parent company, Skydance Media. David Ellison, whose father is the founder of Oracle and megadonor to Trump, said that CBS News has become “extreme, elitist, and performative,” and promised to change the atmosphere.
Trump believes Ellison is the answer to turning around the company. “A great man. He actually just bought CBS. And I think he‘s going to do the right thing with it.”
In other changes seeming to favor the administration, there are reports that Skydance is buying Bari Weiss’ website The Free Press and hiring her. Weiss is one of the most polarizing figures in media and critical of “woke” ideology. She left the New York Times because of “bullying by colleagues” and an “illiberal environment.” CBS has also just hired Trump supporter Brendan Carr as ombudsman to root out bias in the newsroom.
Trump’s bullseye on the back of CBS News started when he sued – and won $16 million, plus free advertising – for editing portions of a Kamala Harris interview during the campaign to make her look more coherent. And these editing and personnel changes are no doubt making him pleased.
ESPN was told to “refrain from showcasing any disruptions to the President’s attendance in any capacity.” It’s not ABC’s or ESPN’s job to dictate their production editing to make Trump look good. While it may be because the USTA didn’t want any political fights, it made the association look bad and is utterly inappropriate. If Trump wants to go to the U.S. Open, as Bill Clinton had done, why not show the public’s reaction? It’s news in real time.
And ESPN did it without great fanfare. They showed him entering along with the crowd reaction for a brief period of time, just as it shows other celebrities sitting in the stands. And Trump should have expected mixed reactions since almost half of the country disapproves of his handling of his policies.
Both networks reacted with wildly different responses to what seems like an authoritarian smackdown. Who is served by not letting journalists do their jobs? I know Trump has gotten the short end of the stick from mainstream media. His coverage has been extremely critical, to say the least. But for a network to fold when it comes to its journalism policies is downright bad judgment. Kudos to ESPN for sticking to its guns. And shame on CBS for folding.
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