CBS News, the news division of the television and radio broadcasterCBS, has faced several notable controversies throughout its history. This includes the resignation of CBS News presidentFred Friendly in 1966 to protest againstVietnam War coverage, the 2004Killian documents controversy involvingDan Rather presenting improperly verified documents, accusations of liberal bias and plagiarism, and several instances of misrepresented or erroneously attributed footage.
In 1964, Rep.Jimmy Utt (R-CA) filed a libel suit against CBS regarding a CBS Reports "Case History of a Rumor" program. He claimed the defendants had "'entrapped' him into giving a television interview that turned out to be a 'cross examination' byRoger Mudd, who acted as 'prosecutor, judge, and jury.'" The case was dismissed. Utt died in office in 1970 and was succeeded byJohn G. Schmitz.[1]
On February 15, 1966, CBS News presidentFred Friendly resigned in protest after the network declined to show hearings of theSenate Foreign Relations Committee regarding the expandingVietnam War in favor of reruns ofI Love Lucy. The decision, made by the network's vice president of broadcasting, John M. Schneider, specifically related to the testimony ofGeorge F. Kennan not being shown, in contrast toNBC News, which was showing it live.
In 1971, theFCC and theHouse Commerce Committee issued reports claiming that CBS News financially subsidized Project Nassau, a planned 1966 invasion of Haiti intended to overthrow then-dictatorFrançois Duvalier; CBS News allegedly became involved in the plot in order to shoot the invasion for a television documentary. However, the participants in the invasion were arrested by theFBI before it could be carried out. In adeposition,Atlanta Journal reporter Tom Dunkin claimed thatJay McMullen, a CBS producer, told him that he had "spent a lot of time and money on this project and had nothing to show for it." CBS was denounced by Vice PresidentSpiro Agnew, who accused the network of disseminating "self-serving propaganda".[2]
In his 2001 bookBias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, former CBS News correspondentBernard Goldberg extensively criticizedDan Rather's management of CBS News and what he claimed was Rather's combative efforts to skew the network's coverage.[3]
On September 8, 2004, two months before the2004 presidential election,60 Minutes II broadcast a report byDan Rather claiming that a series of memos had surfaced criticizing PresidentGeorge W. Bush's service record in the TexasAir National Guard, purportedly discovered in the personnel files of Bush's then-commanding officer, Lt. Col.Jerry B. Killian. However, independent analysis of the documents in question—particularly analysis of their anachronistic typographic conventions—strongly suggested that they were actually forgeries.[4]
Despite initially defending the authenticity of the documents, Rather and CBS eventually admitted that they were misled about how they were obtained; Rather, however, has continued to insist that the documents weren't conclusively proved to be forged. After an internal investigation, CBS dismissed four producers and allegedly hastened Rather's retirement as anchor of theCBS Evening News. Rather filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS in 2007, claiming that the network and its management had made him a "scapegoat" in the Killian story. In 2009, Rather's lawsuit was dismissed.
On the April 4, 2007, broadcast of theCBS Evening News,Katie Couric gave a one-minute commentary about the importance of reading. However, it was later discovered that Couric's commentary was substantially lifted from a column byJeffrey Zaslow inThe Wall Street Journal. Despite the personal flavor of the piece—with Couric saying how she still remembered receiving her first library card—it was later determined that a producer had written the commentary instead of Couric, and that she had plagiarized from Zaslow's column. CBS quickly fired the producer and promised changes to its procedures.[5]
Steve Kroft, co-editor of60 Minutes, interviewedBarack Obama immediately following the noted Rose Garden press conference held in response to the2012 Benghazi attack. CBS withheld significant parts of the interview that confirm the President's refusal to acknowledge the attack as a confirmed act of terror, despite the prominence that arose following the second presidential debate. CBS released the footage just two days before the2012 United States presidential election.[6]
On 10 March 2014, reporterSharyl Attkisson resigned from CBS News, citing what she saw as the network's liberal bias, an outsized influence by the network's corporate partners, and a lack of dedication to investigative reporting.[7] In her bookStonewalled, Attkisson also reports about how her computer was hacked, deleting stories about the Benghazi attack.[8][9]
In January 2017, after the events of the2017 Chicago torture incident took place, CBS Radio News reported, "The viral video of a beating and knife attack in Chicago suggests the assault had racial overtones. CBS's Dean Reynolds tells us the victim is described as a mentally challenged teenager. In the video he is choked and repeatedly called the n-word. His clothes are slashed and he is terrorized with a knife. His alleged captors repeatedly referenceDonald Trump."[10] This description, which implied that a black victim was tortured by white Trump supporters, was criticized by conservatives, includingJack Armstrong and Joe Getty at the San Francisco CBS Radio News affiliateKCBS (AM).[11]
On March 25, 2020, theCBS This Morning news program aired a segment described in a teaser called "Desperation inNew York ascoronavirus cases there continue to skyrocket", which featured a clip ofhospital personnel, equipment, and patients after a short clip featuringDeborah Birx, who was at the time serving as theWhite House Coronavirus Response Coordinator.[12] However, the footage shown was actually that of a hospital inBergamo,Italy aired three days earlier bySky News and not from New York.[12] CBS News later acknowledged the error, with a spokesperson from CBS attributing the error to "an editing mistake." and added that "We took immediate steps to remove it from all platforms and shows."[12] One week later, CBS News used a short clip of the same Italian footage while referencingCOVID-19 cases in Pennsylvania.[12]
In December 2025, the60 Minutes segment "Inside CECOT" on theTerrorism Confinement Center by correspondentSharyn Alfonsi was postponed just before the scheduled broadcast within the US, generating widespread criticism in the US.[13] Alfonsi stated in an e-mail to colleagues that “our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct” and “In my view, pulling it now—after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”[14]
Despite the last minute attempt to stop the broadcast, the segment continued to be released per schedule via aGlobal Television Network streaming service and was downloaded and distributed across other Internet services despiteCBS News efforts to prevent distribution usingDMCA take down notices.[14][15][16][17][18]
Some news commentators stated that killing the story was part of a larger shift fromDavid Ellison.[19]