Anatomy of a news story: ’60 Minutes’ invites audience into the editing process with Trump interview

During his Minutes interview President Donald Trump revealed Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer would rather see the country fail than Republicans do well complained about investigators searching through his wife s closet spoke in detail about ending wars and turned the tables on interviewer Norah O Donnell to ask about safety in Washington D C None of that was seen by people who watched the CBS telecast Sunday night Less than half of O Donnell s interview conducted Friday certainly made it onto the air But CBS posted a transcript and video of the full -minute discussion online so viewers could see for themselves what the president announced that the configuration deemed worthy for inclusion in the -minute on-air segment That offered viewers a rare look inside the editing process at one of journalism s best-known institutions showing the dozens of decisions on clarity and newsworthiness that go into telling the story you see on television Beyond Minutes the process is essentially the same throughout the world of journalism from local newspapers to The New York Times from specialty websites to The Associated Press In short Much like the old notion that everyone s a critic with this move everyone can be an editor A contrast to how Minutes has worked throughout its history Release of the Trump outtakes contrasted with CBS cure of the Minutes interview with Kamala Harris last fall Trump sued CBS claiming the interview with his Democratic opponent was deceptively edited based on two different clips that were aired on the newsmagazine and Face the Nation CBS did not release a transcript of its Harris interview for four months and not until the Trump-controlled Federal Communications Commission had applied community pressure On a routine basis Minutes and the majority journalists don t release raw material in this way If CBS News is going to change its practices routinely in the future one former Minutes producer declared it should be up front with its viewers about it Tom Bettag who worked at the broadcast in the s and is now a journalism professor at the University of Maryland disclosed it s a product of the times in which we live but there s a downside to the practice of letting people in on the editing I think there s a very good reason not to allow people to do that in order to avoid the arguments of you should have done this or you should have done that Bettag reported The assumption has been that your audience trusts you to use good judgment and to be fair From the very start the edited Trump interview revealed a clear difference from the raw material On the broadcast O Donnell s interview began with discussion of the authorities shutdown But when the two literally sat down she started by asking the president about his just-concluded meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping That s essentially a call journalists make every day in crafting reports Pick material to emphasize that seems the largest part newsworthy or of interest to the bulk people The newsiest portions made the broadcast which is why programs edit in the first place Brian Stelter wrote about the Minutes interview for CNN s Reliable Sources newsletter The first words out of Trump s mouth Democrats fault came before O Donnell even completed her question That clearly manifested where Trump was going and the broadcast interview reflected that But it was edited several times for length to avoid tangents and the repetitiveness of partisan attacks Of Schumer Trump stated He would rather see the country fail than have Trump and the Republicans do well a comment left out of the broadcast On cutting room floor Trump says O Donnell should be ashamed Trump also informed O Donnell that she should be ashamed to be asking him about political retribution That was left off the broadcast Trump s complaints about New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey were abbreviated although his comment that James was a terrible dishonest person was left in I was struck by how much of what didn t air from the interview were the parts that seemed more rant-filled and often confusing wrote journalist Rick Ellis who painstakingly compared transcripts of the full interview and what CBS broadcast for the website All Your Screens Trump brought up his predecessor President Joe Biden more than times in the interview but only six instances made the broadcast Ellis stated The headline for Ellis story read Minutes Edits The bulk of the Crazy Out of Its Interview with Donald Trump CBS edited a handful of fact-checks into the Minutes story majority notably adding a military official s refutation of Trump s claim that China and Russia were testing nuclear weapons There were a handful of missed opportunities such as Trump s claim that he was able to beat all of the legal nonsense that was thrown at me CBS removed an exchange during a discussion of crime in cities in which Trump solicited O Donnell whether she felt safer in Washington D C after the president ordered the National Guard to patrol there Generally journalists like to keep the focus off themselves You see a difference Trump solicited her Responded O Donnell I think I ve been working too hard I haven t been out and about that much Related Minnesota s Lakeland PBS joins population media lawsuits over Trump funding cuts Minutes pointed out that O Donnell s interview was conducted exactly a year after Trump filed his lawsuit regarding the Harris interview But it left out of the broadcast Trump s discussion about management changes at CBS parent company Paramount since the company agreed to pay him million to settle the occurrence They paid me a lot of money for that Trump commented You can t have fake news You ve gotta have legit news And I think that s happening He praised Paramount s new leaders along with the news division s new editor-in-chief The Free Press founder Bari Weiss That editing decision angered a Trump critic Tim Miller at the Bulwark website Minutes did not air the part where Trump discusses his success extorting the organization and calls them Fake News he wrote on X This edit is harmful to me and I m considering suing CBS editing seemed to draw fewer complaints from Trump supporters The White House s rapid response X feed posted copies of both the full interview and what CBS put on the air Jorge Bonilla writing for the conservative media watchdog Newsbusters wrote that O Donnell s first interview with the newsmagazine contrasted with its debacle with Lesley Stahl five years ago when Trump walked out It appears he wrote that the Bari Weiss era is now full upon us at CBS News David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP Follow him at http x com dbauder and https bsky app profile dbauder bsky social The post Anatomy of a news story Minutes invites audience into the editing process with Trump interview appeared first on MinnPost