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By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -CBS on Tuesday urged the Federal Communications Commission to immediately dismiss a complaint over a "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, saying there was no evidence of "news distortion."
The program, which aired in October, drew criticism from a conservative group and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump over CBS's broadcast of a portion of Harris' answer to a question about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on "60 Minutes" and a different portion of her answer to the same question on "Face the Nation."
Trump has sued CBS for $20 billion, claiming that "60 Minutes" deceptively edited the interview in order to interfere in the November presidential election, which he won.
CBS, which is owned by Paramount Global, said in a filing made public Tuesday that "the transcript and unedited interview footage demonstrate that CBS engaged in commonplace editorial practices - specifically, by deciding what material from a lengthy sit-down interview would air in a time-limited television format."
The network called on the FCC to dismiss the complaint "without delay."
FCC Chair Brendan Carr rejected the idea, telling Reuters on Tuesday that there is still an ongoing investigation. "We're not close in my view to the position of dismissing that complaint at this point," he said.
CBS cited an ideologically diverse group of commentators who warned that any FCC action against CBS "would violate the First Amendment and chill speech, all while creating the prospect that the commission will serve as the arbiter of acceptable journalism going forward."
CBS said the complaint aims to turn "the FCC into a full-time censor of content" which would result in an unconstitutional role and an impossible one for the agency.
The Center for Individual Freedom, Americans for Tax Reform, Taxpayers Protection Alliance and other groups last week called on Carr to reject the complaint, saying an "adverse ruling against CBS would constitute regulatory overreach and advance precedent that can be weaponized by future FCCs."
The FCC is reviewing whether the broadcast violates "news distortion" rules. Though the agency is prohibited from censorship or infringing the First Amendment rights of media, broadcasters cannot intentionally distort the news.
The American Civil Liberties Union said separately there was no basis to investigate. "To conduct an investigation into news distortion without a shred of evidence appears intended to
harass CBS and chill those putting forth disfavored viewpoints," the group said.
Paramount is seeking FCC approval for an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
Trump has continued to attack CBS and "60 Minutes," and criticized the outlet on Sunday for a recent interview.
In January, the FCC reinstated complaints about the "60 Minutes" interview with Harris, as well as complaints about how Walt Disney's ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump. It also reinstated complaints against Comcast's NBC for allowing Harris to appear on "Saturday Night Live" shortly before the election.
The FCC's prior chair, Jessica Rosenworcel, in January rejected those complaints.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Matthew Lewis)
