Research/Study
Fox News, which routinely edits Trump appearances, spent over 1 hour covering CBS editing Harris interview
Fox personalities repeatedly attacked CBS as deceitful despite their network’s own history of deceptive editing
Written by Reed McMaster & Gideon Taaffe
Research contributions from Harrison Ray
Published
Following Vice President Kamala Harris’ October 7 interview on 60 Minutes, Fox News dedicated over 1 hour of coverage to CBS editing Harris’ answer in a teaser that aired before the 60 Minutes interview. Fox, which regularly airs edited footage of former President Donald Trump’s interviews and events, argued that CBS' editorial practices were evidence of collusion with Democrats and warranted firings at CBS.
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- CBS received right-wing criticism for editing down a clip of Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview for a teaser
- Fox has repeatedly edited Trump’s interviews and town halls, often removing vital context
- Fox figures attacked CBS for editing Harris’ response in the teaser, ignoring Fox’s history of deceptive editing
- Methodology
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CBS received right-wing criticism for editing down a clip of Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview for a teaser
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- CBS aired two different portions of Harris’ response to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — one on 60 Minutes and another in a preview of the interview shown on Face the Nation. Right-wing figures used this discrepancy to attack CBS and allege that the network acted in a partisan manner, although CBS stated “that the entirety of Harris’ answer has been broadcast.” [CNN, 10/23/24]
- Media Matters found that between October 8-23, Fox News spent over 1 hour discussing CBS' editing of Harris’ 60 Minutes interview.
- On October 21, Trump posted a letter on Truth Social from his attorneys accusing CBS of “manipulative editing” of the interview, claiming the changes were “aimed at causing confusion among the electorate regarding Vice President Kamala Harris’ abilities, intelligence, and appeal.” [The New Republic, 10/22/24]
- CBS responded to criticism that it edited Harris’ response to favor the candidate, clarifying that the network shortened her answer for time. CBS defended cutting Harris’ answer in the teasers to be “more succinct” and noted that Trump refused to do an interview with 60 Minutes. [CBS News, 10/20/24; Variety, 10/20/24]
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Fox has repeatedly edited Trump’s interviews and town halls, often removing vital context
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- Fox News edited down Trump’s October 17 visit to a Bronx barbershop to remove “many of Trump’s rambling comments and false claims.” CNN compared the full video of Trump’s trip to the footage that Fox & Friends played, noting: “One of the most telling parts of the dialogue began when an audience member asked Trump about finding a way to eliminate federal taxes in the future. On Fox, Trump was shown immediately answering affirmatively: ‘There is a way.’ But that response from Trump actually came more than seven minutes later.” [CNN, 10/24/24]
- In June, Semafor found Fox News edited out multiple answers from an interview with Trump, including his response on declassifying files pertaining to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “Fox’s initial broadcast version papered over the ambiguity, which allows the former president to continue to cater to conspiracy theorists while expressing an entirely different concern — that outlandish conspiracy theories might hurt innocent people mentioned in documents,” the outlet reported. “The Fox broadcast also omitted comments about how Trump had ‘nice conversations’ with the Taliban.” [Semafor, 6/9/24]
- Fox News obscured the true nature of the recent all-women town hall moderated by Harris Faulkner, hiding that the audience was stacked with Republicans and Trump supporters. [CNN, 10/16/24; Media Matters, 10/16/24]
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Fox figures attacked CBS for editing Harris’ response in the teaser, ignoring Fox’s history of deceptive editing
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- Fox contributor Joe Concha accused CBS of “journalistic malfeasance” and argued it justifies Trump’s decision not to go on 60 Minutes. He stated, “The same news division that screams about the importance of transparency is being anything but transparent here, and this is journalistic malfeasance.” [Fox News, America Reports, 10/10/24]
- Fox News contributor Ben Domenech suggested the only reason for CBS to edit the Harris interview was “to help her.” He told anchor Bret Baier, “It does seem egregious and I don’t understand why they needed to do it or what the rationale would be behind it despite — you know, other than trying to help her.” [Fox News, Special Report with Bret Baier, 10/10/24]
- Fox host Jesse Watters argued that “somebody has to be fired” over the “deceptively dirty edit.” He called the 60 Minutes interview edit “so biased” and “such an extraordinary breach of journalistic ethics where somebody has to be fired.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/10/24]
- Fox News host Sean Hannity accused “far-left CBS News” of being “an extension of the Harris campaign.” He claimed, “There is zero justifiable reason for CBS to ever have this happen, but we've been telling you since 2007 and ‘8: journalism is dead, news is a thing of the past, and CBS, frankly, most of the state-run media mob and that — most of the so-called news outlets — this is a network dedicated to left-wing activism, an extension of the Harris campaign. They should never be allowed to host another debate.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/10/24]
- Fox News host Mark Levin argued CBS “crossed the red line” and proved the network to be “a propaganda operation.” He said, “What CBS did, they crossed the red line, they are a propaganda operation and they proved it. Every bit as much as Pravda.” [Fox News, Life, Liberty & Levin, 10/13/24]
- Fox News contributor Lisa Boothe said “CBS lied to its audience” and argued the media are “propagandists.” She said, “I think even calling this misleading is being kind. CBS lied to its audience.” Boothe claimed the network hurt reporter Bill Whitaker’s credibility, saying, “His own network did him a disservice by throwing him under the bus, any credibility that he has, and now CBS is totally illegitimate. But this gets to the point I was making earlier, the media is not even just biased anymore. … They’re propagandists.” [Fox News, MediaBuzz, 10/13/24]
- On Hannity, Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt accused 60 Minutes of altering Harris’ answers “to make her look less idiotic.” Hannity said, “Apparently, CBS decided to replace a Kamala word salad with a more succinct answer in order to, quote, ‘allow time for other subjects.’ For his part, Donald Trump pointed out that the show's statement is not exactly a denial that they cleaned up the vice president's remarks.” [Fox News, Hannity, 10/21/24]
- Fox media critic Howard Kurtz argued that CBS’ editing was blatant and a “bad strategic move.” He told anchor Martha MacCallum “I think that was a mistake on CBS’ part — they should’ve run the whole thing unedited so nobody could question it.” Kurtz later added, “The editing was so blatant, and I found it annoying, and I think it was a bad strategic move on the part of 60 Minutes.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 10/8/24]
- Kurtz claimed CBS’ editing of the interview was “blatantly unethical.” He stated, “This is a pathetic response by 60 Minutes after a week of silence. It basically says, ‘Yeah, we did it. So what?’ And you know, they talk about making Kamala Harris sound more succinct — in other words, making her look better by switching up the answers, as you just saw. You can't have a different part of an answer to the same question. It's blatantly unethical, and if someone on my staff did that they would be looking for a new job.” [Fox News, The Story with Martha MacCallum, 10/21/24]
- On Jesse Watters Primetime, Concha suggested that 60 Minutes was not a “tough interview” because “they manipulated that presentation in the final edit.” Promoting Baier’s October 16 interview with Harris on Fox, Concha told Watters that “not only was this the first tough interview of this campaign, she has not done a tough interview since she ran for president five years ago. I mean, 60 Minutes somewhat challenged her but they manipulated that presentation in the final edit — and then, by the way, they still have not released the full transcript, so we don't know what else they may have edited or left on the edit room floor.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 10/17/24]
- Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher claimed CBS is “already reeling from accusations of deceptively editing a Kamala Harris interview” and is now “getting slammed again for airing a badly sourced story” about Trump refusing to pay for a soldier’s funeral. Gallagher then asked the audience: “Is it bad journalism? Is it something else going on at CBS?” [Fox News, Fox News @ Night, 10/23/24]
- Concha attacked CBS’ interview with Harris, saying, “This ain't about journalism. It's about activism.” Co-host Todd Piro said that CBS “is not denying” the allegations, adding, “What they are doing is normalizing it. And this is what the media wants, they want to normalize these things with regard to the candidate that they love — in this case, Kamala Harris.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends First, 10/21/24]
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Methodology
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Media Matters searched transcripts in the SnapStream video database for all original programming on Fox News Channel for any of the terms “60 minute,” “60 minutes,” “sixty minute,” “sixty minutes,” or “CBS” within close proximity to any of the terms “interview,” “Harris,” “Kamala,” or “vice president” or any variation of the terms “deceit,” “edit,” “cut,” or “deceptive” from October 8, 2024, the day after Vice President Kamala Harris' interview with CBS' 60 Minutes was released, through October 23, 2024.
We timed segments, which we defined as instances when CBS' edit of its 60 Minutes interview with Harris was the stated topic of discussion or when we found significant discussion of the edit. We defined significant discussion as instances when two or more speakers in a multitopic segment discussed the interview’s edit with one another.
We also timed mentions, which we defined as instances when a speaker in a segment on another topic mentioned the interview’s edit without another speaker in the segment engaging with the comment, and teasers, which we defined as instances when the anchor or host promoted a segment about 60 Minutes interview’s edit scheduled to air later in the broadcast.