Sept. 6 (UPI) — The CBS News program Face The Nation will no longer edit its recorded interviews before broadcast, following a complaint by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Network executives confirmed the policy change this week, after Noem took issue with her recent appearance on the Sunday segment, which did not air her full comments.
Noem called the practice “deceptive” editing, after the interview with moderator Margaret Brennan was trimmed from 16 minutes and 40 seconds to 12 minutes and 15 seconds.
CBS News later posted the full, unedited interview online, as well as a full transcript of the interview.
Brennan has hosted the interview-style program since 2018.
Noem was discussing the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia during the interview, the illegal immigrant facing deportation.
The Department of Homeland Security later issued a statement after the edited interview aired. The statement says CBS News “selectively edited answers,” and “removed more than 23% of Secretary Noem’s answers” about Abrego Garcia.
This week, CBS CEO George Cheeks and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski both said they had reviewed the situation with the CEO of parent company Paramount, David Ellison, and agreed on the policy change.
“This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS, and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online,” the network said in a statement.
Paramount and CBS News have been targets of President Donald Trump since before he took office. The company has also been in talks for a multi-billion-dollar merger, which needed approval from the Trump administration.
The deal between Skydance Media and Paramount Global closed last month.
This past November, Trump sued CBS News for $10 billion, claiming it “deceptively edited” an interview with then Vice-President Kamala Harris to portray him in a negative light. Trump and CBS settled the lawsuit in July, a month before the Paramount merger was finalized.
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