CAR Calls for Biden Transcript
CBS should release the transcript of an October 2023 60 Minutes interview with then-President Joe Biden and promptly install a bias ombudsman, said the Center for American Rights in an ex parte FCC filing last week. CAR pointed to a recent New York Times article in which former Paramount Global head Shari Redstone said Biden seemed drowsy during the interview with journalist Scott Pelley.
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The 60 Minutes segment opened with Pelley saying Biden was tired from working on crises in Ukraine and Israel, CAR said. “Not only did Sixty Minutes refuse to report that the President was alarmingly drowsy and unresponsive, but it made excuses for his poor performance in the clips the show did end up airing.” That amounts to suppressing news and could show a pattern that should be considered as part of the current news distortion proceeding against the network, CAR said.
Paramount promised to release transcripts of future interviews with presidential candidates in the run-up to the FCC’s approval of its purchase by Skydance. “If Paramount is serious about that responsibility, it can start by releasing the raw footage of Pelley’s interview with President Biden,” CAR said. “An independent ombudsman would be the perfect first stop for a situation like this with serious concerns about news suppression by a CBS program.”