The staff at CBS News seems intent on acting as if it is business as usual, even though their new bosses have made it clear they want to purge the outlet of its alleged left-wing bias.
Ahead of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s highly anticipated meeting at the White House with President Trump, the “Face the Nation” host, Margaret Brennan — who’s long been accused of overt anti-Trump, anti-Israel, and anti-conservative bias — hectored Secretary Marco Rubio about “concerns” among European leaders that the Ukrainian president would be “bullied.”
“You know, there is concern from the Europeans that President Zelensky is going to be bullied into signing something away. That’s why you have these European leaders coming back up tomorrow. Can you reassure them?” Ms. Brennan asked.
Mr. Rubio responded, “No, it isn’t. That’s not why they’re coming back — that’s not true. … They’re not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied.”
The host responded by referring to a contentious February Oval Office meeting. During the meeting, Mr. Trump told Mr. Zelensky he was “gambling with World War III,” that he did not have the “cards” to negotiate, and seemed to suggest that America would cut off its support if Ukraine did not reach a cease-fire agreement. The meeting sparked deep concerns about the future of America’s support for Ukraine. However, in the months since, the two men have had several meetings, and America has continued its shipment of weapons.
After Ms. Brennan spoke over Mr. Rubio to note that there was a red carpet when President Vladimir Putin arrived in Alaska for a summit with Mr. Trump, the secretary of state said, “We’ve had one meeting with Putin and like a dozen meetings with Zelensky.”
The European leaders are “not coming here tomorrow to keep Zelensky from being bullied. They’re coming here tomorrow because we’ve been working with the Europeans. We talked to them last week,” Mr. Rubio said. “This is such a stupid media narrative that they’re coming here tomorrow because Trump is going to bully Zelensky into a bad deal.”
He added that the Europeans were coming because Mr. Trump invited them.
Ms. Brennan said that Mr. Trump had said he wanted a cease-fire and promised to walk out of his meeting with Mr. Putin within minutes if he felt the Russians were not serious about ending the war, but that the conversation stretched on for nearly three hours — without any apparent agreement to negotiate an end to the war.
Mr. Rubio said there was “enough progress” made in the Alaska summit that they could “move to the next phase.”
The exchange led to complaints of bias against Ms. Brennan.
A conservative X user, Molly Pitcher, wrote, “Margaret hates President Trump and Margaret wants a war to continue.”
“Why do we have a legacy media that is at war with our own leaders. They make such fools of themselves,” a conservative writer, Sasha Stone, said on X.
Another person wrote, “Here we go with the f— up msm and their lies: Margaret Brennan interviewing Marco Rubio: The European representatives will be at the WH for security for Zelenskyy against Trump. How stupid.”
Ms. Brennan has repeatedly been accused of displaying a liberal bias. During the 2024 vice presidential debate, Vice President JD Vance called her out for “fact-checking” him despite CBS News’s promise not to do so during pre-debate negotiations, and despite Ms. Brennan and her co-moderator, Norah O’Donnell, refraining from fact-checking Governor Tim Walz.
Ms. Brennan came under fire again more recently as she claimed in February that the Nazis “weaponized” free speech to carry out the Holocaust, as she attacked Mr. Vance for his criticism of European officials’ efforts to curb free speech. The comment led several social media users to call for her to be fired.
The latest allegations, however, come as CBS and its parent company, Paramount Global, are under new management after the Federal Communications Commission approved Skydance Media’s $8.4 billion acquisition of the entertainment conglomerate, and new bosses are looking for ways to rein in the allegations of a left-wing bias.
The chief executive of Skydance, David Ellison, is the son of the world’s second-richest man, Larry Ellison, a Trump supporter.
In letters to the FCC, Skydance executives committed to unbiased journalism and vowed to hire an “ombudsman” for at least two years to review complaints against CBS.
Ms. Brennan has long been expected to be a locus of controversy at CBS News as Skydance seeks to enforce a code of fairness. The conduct of an anti-Trump “60 Minutes” correspondent, Scott Pelley, who is more famous than Ms. Brennan, is also under the microscope.
On August 7, when the Skydance deal was finalized, Mr. Ellison’s first visit was to CBS’s news division and “60 Minutes.”
During a press conference that day, Mr. Ellison and other executives sought to alleviate concerns about whether there would be corporate interference at CBS News, telling a far-left media reporter, Oliver Darcy, “Of course, we believe in the impact of journalism.”
Left-wing reporters have suggested the “ombudsman” will report on CBS News to the FCC; however, the incoming president of Paramount, Jeff Shell, said the position is “a transparency vehicle, not an oversight vehicle.”
Mr. Ellison did say that he wants to make the outlet one that center-right Americans feel they can watch and trust.
The persistent complaints of bias may not lead the owners to fire the left-wing staff. However, it may fuel Mr. Ellison to bring in other voices to rein in staff. Multiple reports said Mr. Ellison is in talks with the co-founder of an anti-woke outlet, the Free Press, Bari Weiss, to hire her as a non-managerial “ideological guide” for the network to help shape its coverage.
CBS News did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
