HA! CBS News President Claims 'We Are Unbiased, We Are Seeking the Truth'

October 30th, 2020 5:02 PM

Appearing as a guest on Wednesday's Amanpour & Co., CBS News president Susan Zirinsky proclaimed that the journalists on her network are "unbiased" and are "seeking the truth" in spite of the frequently left-leaning slant of its news shows. She went on to proclaim that her network does not give its audience "opinions," but are "fair and unbiased."

How can anyone claim that after observing the obvious tilt against Trump and in favor of Biden on Sunday's 60 Minutes? 

As interviewer Walter Isaacson (the former CEO of CNN and managing editor of Time) asked her how she handles the "hurricane of misinformation" in the modern media, Zirinsky touted CBS News as "purveyors of truth" and suggested her colleagues are "straight down the middle" as she began:

This is where we also have to become known as the purveyors of truth, and I think that's reputational. And I think that -- look, we live in a world where people gravitate towards their point of view. You know, this is their thing. But I think, quite frankly, there has been a shift, and I think people are hungry for something that is straight down the middle, objective. And I think that comes from us advertising it, being there, being out, going to public speaking, putting our message out that, well, who are we? We are -- we are journalists -- we are unbiased -- we are seeking the truth.

After declaring that there are many people who wish to seek out information that is not necessarily "gravitating towards their point of view," she claimed her network is not opinionated as she concluded:

Our job is to continue to put it out there and talk about ourselves as "This is where we see this." We're not giving you opinions. Unless we're telling you we're giving opinions which doesn't really happen. So I think it's our job to communicate our position of true journalism, fair and unbiased and transparent.

Just a few minutes earlier, Zirinsky had just recalled the decision she helped make in deciding to label some of President Donald Trump's comments as "racist" even though different people can have widely different opinions about what is considered racist.

This episode of Amanpour & Co. was sponsored in part by the Anderson Family Fund and the Straus Family Foundation. You can fight back by letting advertisers know how you feel about them sponsoring such content.

Below is a transcript of he relevant portion of the Wednesday, October 28, Amanpour and Co. on PBS and CNN International:

WALTER ISAACSON: This new media landscape has produced a hurricane of misinformation. How do you deal with that?

SUSAN ZIRINSKY, CBS NEWS PRESIDENT: This is where we also have to become known as the purveyors of truth, and I think that's reputational. And I think that -- look, we live in a world where people gravitate towards their point of view. You know, this is their thing. But I think, quite frankly, there has been a shift, and I think people are hungry for something that is straight down the middle, objective. And I think that comes from us advertising it, being there, being out, going to public speaking, putting our message out that, well, who are we? We are -- we are journalists -- we are unbiased -- we are seeking the truth.

And, you know, you have to compete. And there will be a Darwinian aspect to surviving in this mega era of just multi-channels of noise just coming at you. Don't underestimate people -- they're pretty smart. Some people will always gravitate towards the point of view that they want to, but there are some very smart people in the middle of the country -- in the South, in the North, in the West, the Pacific Northwest, in the East -- who are really hungry for information. And I just -- we -- our job is to continue to put it out there and talk about ourselves as "This is where we see this." We're not giving you opinions. Unless we're telling you we're giving opinions which doesn't really happen. So I think it's our job to communicate our position of true journalism, fair and unbiased and transparent.