“60 Minutes” correspondent Jon Wertheim defended CBS News during an appearance on OutKick’s “Don’t @ Me with Dan Dakich” on Wednesday, insisting its ongoing editing controversy is much ado about nothing and calls to release a transcript were above his pay grade.
Dakich pointed out that CBS News has faced significant backlash after airing two different answers Vice President Kamala Harris gave to the same question, after a much-criticized answer used to promote the interview on “Face the Nation” was cut from the network’s “60 Minutes” broadcast.
“Oh, man, we’re going there already,” Wertheim, the executive editor of Sports Illustrated, responded when Dakich pressed him about it. “You know, you do these interviews and ’60 Minutes’ segments in about 13 minutes and 10 seconds, right? You spend hours, sometimes days and days with the subject, you boil it all down to 13 minutes. Things are edited in every story.”
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“I don’t quite know the details, but I don’t really get it. I mean, anytime … you wrote something for Sports Illustrated, sometimes the online version isn’t exactly the same as the version that’s in the magazine,” he continued. “Some things that might be in the promo aren’t going to make the piece.”
Wertheim reiterated that he doesn’t “get” the backlash, which has included former President Trump scolding the network and a formal complaint filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
“When would you do a story and not edit? Not make choices and not make, sort of, selective quotes… you sit there in a locker room with your tape recorder and not everything an athlete says is going to make it into the story,” Wertheim said, adding, “I don’t make these decisions, but I feel like something’s missing here, because when in media do you not make editorial choices?”
Harris was mocked by conservatives on social media when footage of her offering a lengthy “word salad” was aired by CBS Oct. 6 on “Face the Nation” to promote the “60 Minutes” sit-down, after Bill Whitaker asked why it seemed like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t listening to the United States. However, the vice president’s lengthy answer didn’t make the version that aired on Monday, Oct. 7, on “60 Minutes” and a shorter, more focused answer to the same question was shown instead.
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Interviews are frequently edited to save time, but airing two different answers to the exact same question has raised eyebrows. Dakich asked Wertheim if CBS News should release the full transcript in order to clear things up.
Wertheim appeared to think for a moment before saying, “I don’t know, I think there are things that get said in a transcript with a subject … it’s not going to make sense in context. It’s kind of not the way the game is played.”
Wertheim, who said he doesn’t speak for “60 Minutes,” then said he doesn’t know the “ground rules for this stuff” at CBS.
“This is above my pay grade,” he said.
“More than anything, honestly, I’m just sort of confused by it all,” he added. “When would you ever work on the assumption that everything you do is going to make it into the piece?”
Dakich said critics believe CBS and “60 Minutes” are trying to make Harris “look good,” and cutting her longer answer from the primetime broadcast would have helped achieve that goal.
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“There wasn’t anything doctored, you just make editorial decisions to fit into a time,” Wertheim said, adding that he lets the subjects of his sports reporting re-answer questions if they felt they misstated something.
CBS News has not offered an on-the-record explanation or responded to requests to release the unedited video.
CBS News did not immediately respond when asked about Wertheim’s comments.
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