Editorial of September 11, 2025
If the Media Is To Be Trusted, They Must Publish Responsibly
Readers may remember that in July of this year, CBS News settled a lawsuit filed against them by President Donald Trump for $16 million. Trump sued CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global, over the editing of an October 2024 interview by Bill Whitaker of then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The interview aired on “60 Minutes” prior to the election. At issue was a comment made by Harris regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which was shown in its entirety on “Face the Nation.” Trump’s team contended that CBS had edited the original interview to make Harris look and sound better on a separate broadcast. CBS officials contended that this was standard practice for television news.
This month, United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called out CBS yet again for “selectively editing” her comments in an interview regarding the status of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Noem says 23 percent of her answers were cut, including key allegations against Garcia. The full interview did air on YouTube. We watched both versions.
According to an article published recently by “The Hill,” on Friday, September 4, CBS announced that it will implement a new policy for greater transparency in its interviews. Dominick Mastrangelo wrote:
“Face the Nation will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews (subject to national security or legal restrictions),” the broadcaster said. “This extra measure means the television audience will see the full, unedited interview on CBS and we will continue our practice of posting full transcripts and the unedited video online.”
Those who have worked in media know firsthand that interviews are a tricky thing. Time or space often dictate how much of the interview can be broadcast or published. Any edits must still accurately represent the interviewee’s responses. Quotes must be accurate while still reflecting the demeanor, tone and knowledge of the speaker.
Here at Iron String Press, recognizing this, we have moved toward publishing interview responses in their entirety. Whether or not we like or agree with the content, we think it’s important for readers to have full access to the interviewees’ answers or, sometimes, the lack thereof. We believe that our readers deserve to see how candidates, for instance, respond to questions, or if they simply avoid them. Whether they can intelligently articulate their stance. If they sound like they know what they’re talking about, or not. You get the idea.
When we questioned candidates running for the Otsego County clerk position in the fall of 2023, we recorded their answers and published their responses in full. We did the same when we interviewed candidates for the Cooperstown Central School Board, amid controversy, in May of 2024. Prior to the General Election last year, we invited candidates for the Otsego County Board of Representatives, Oneonta Common Council, and for the Senate and Assembly to state their case, and published their statements.
With the November 4 General Election fast approaching (where did the summer go?!), we will be formulating questions for various candidates and we will publish their responses as they are written. At the county level, there are representative races for six of the 14 districts. Daniel Buttermann and Luisa Montanti will be squaring off for the Oneonta mayorship. A number of the county’s towns have multiple candidates competing for council seats, and the Hartwick race for town supervisor and town council should be interesting, given the challenges faced there both before and after the resignation of the town supervisor and town attorney last November. The full list of Otsego County candidates can be found at https://www.otsegocountyny.gov/departments/a-c/board_of_elections/candidates.php.
In her report, “Trustworthiness of news media worldwide 2025,” Statista media researcher Amy Watson writes: “A study examining perspectives on the news media from over 40 countries revealed that levels of trust differed notably around the world. Nigeria recorded the highest level of overall trust in news among the other countries surveyed, at 68 percent. Scandinavians in particular had greater trust in the news media, with 67 percent of Finns trusting the news, along with 56 percent of Danes and 54 percent of Norwegians —placing all three countries among the top ten globally for media trust in 2025.”
According to Watson, the U.S. ranks seventh from the bottom, with just 30 percent of adults reporting that they trust news media most of the time, down from 32 percent in 2024.
The deterioration of our trust in the media can be attributed to ethical breaches, partisan differences, and perceived bias and motivation, among other factors. Lack of staff as newsrooms face budget cuts and financial difficulties can also lead to factual errors, typos, and other noticeable mistakes. Like most other small, locally-owned, independent newsrooms, we struggle with the latter. But, unlike CBS, rest assured that in our coming election coverage, we won’t be putting words in anyone’s mouths. And we won’t be omitting them, either.
