CBS News' MAGA Makeover

A CBS investigative piece on the Epstein jail video broke important new ground. Under David Ellison's new MAGA mandate, that story might never be allowed.

CBS News broke a big story last week that uncovers multiple discrepancies with the Jeffrey Epstein jailhouse footage recently released by the Trump Administration. The detailed analysis found that the jail video was edited before being released to the public, not raw footage as Attorney General Pam Bondi and others have repeatedly claimed.

The CBS story also raises questions about whether the video is missing a minute’s worth of content and if jailhouse cameras actually had full view of Epstein’s cell (they did not). The story also reveals the presence of a third unidentified person in the vicinity of Epstein’s cell who is not referenced in the inspector general’s report.

This news story and thousands more like it remind us that the journalists at CBS News remain top notch. Yet, the network’s new owners apparently don’t know good journalism when they see it. Or maybe they don’t actually give a damn because kowtowing to Donald Trump is the only priority.

David Ellison, the person now in charge after a controversial $8 billion merger with CBS parent company, Paramount Global, has already agreed to some egregious moves that benefit Trump and harm CBS:

• $16 million payment to Trump that some lawmakers contend is nothing more than a bribe

• $20 million worth of Trump focused PSA’s and other programming

• Guaranteed ‘viewpoint diversity’ in CBS news coverage aka no fact checking of Trump and MAGA lies

• Installation of a Pravda-like minder to keep an eye out for “bias” in news coverage.

• Cancelling the late night program hosted by Trump critic Stephen Colbert.

Now the Skydance CEO has sent one of his cronies out to anonymously describe the new vision for CBS. According to him, CBS has “lost its way” and needs to “get back to fundamentals.” It's become “extreme, elitist and performative.” The source goes on to say “Not quotas. Not ideology. Just objective journalism” that recalls the days of CBS legends Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.

This is the kind of ridiculous owner-speak is an obvious attempt to deflect from reality of Ellison’s planned MAGA makeover. It also masks utter ignorance about the standards and practices of journalism that CBS News and other news organizations adhere to. How has CBS lost its way? He doesn’t say. What are the examples of extremism, elitism, and performative news making? He doesn’t have any. Quotas? What is he even talking about? Is that code for hiring a Black or female journalist? Get back to fundamentals? Come on. CBS News helped pioneer broadcast journalism.

This Epstein jailhouse video story in built on that storied tradition. It would have made both Morrow, Cronkite and any number of CBS news legends proud. It is well-researched, fact-based, accurate, timely and yes, objective journalism. It’s the type of the work that CBS News — including its marquee news magazine program 60 Minutes — have been doing for nearly 85 years.

There’s the video version by Scott McFarland that aired on CBS News and a digital piece on the CBS website that takes the reader step by step through the findings using photos, videos, graphics and other materials. The CBS team even did a “digital recreation of the “Special Housing Unit, or SHU, where Epstein was held, using diagrams and descriptions from the 2023 report on Epstein released by the Justice Department inspector general.”

The story is also filled with explainers that help the audience understand the reporting process: “The video, cross-referenced with diagrams of the Epstein holding area, does not appear to support that finding.”

Experts were also consulted including multiple video forensic experts who are each clearly identified by name and with descriptions of their backgrounds. The actual work examining the video is also described in detail throughout the piece. Here’s one example:

“Several forensic experts CBS News spoke with, including Jim Stafford of Eclipse Forensic Services and Conor McCourt of McCourt Video Analysis, said they had not viewed surveillance footage in this format. They said it was unlikely to have been an export of the raw footage and that instead, it appears to be two separate video segments that were stitched together.

“Stafford, who looked at the video using specialized software to extract the underlying coding, known as metadata, said the metadata showed that the file was first created on May 23 of this year and that it was likely a "screen capture, not an actual export" of the raw file. In addition, the analysts said, a shift in the frame aspect ratio (that is, the ratio of the width to the height of an image) indicated that it was two clips edited together, not a continuous run of footage.”

Sharing all of this information with the audience gives added credibility to the information. The report breaks new ground on an important story, it’s supported by facts and data, and it is told in an unflinching, straight to the point fashion without fear or favor. It is good old fashioned news reporting with the added advantages of modern digital tools. We need more of this, not less.

---

---

Unfortunately, the new CBS owners seem determined to undermine the entire tradition they pretend to honor. Under Ellison’s new pro-Trump guidelines, this story might not even be assigned in the first place. We already have in FOX Cable, an example of what gets aired when news decisions must pass through a political lens before getting the green light.

Media Matters has been regularly tracking the lack of Epstein stories and mentions. The latest report found that Fox discussed Epstein for just 3 minutes over 4 days. Instead, the Trump propaganda network used 85 minutes of its airtime to debate the Sydney Sweeney American Eagle ad campaign. Talk about news distortion!

Clearly, the last thing the country needs is more de-facto state media like Fox. But that’s exactly where David Ellison is steering CBS. Why? Because the news Americans need is far less important than the money Ellison can make by flattering the king. Both Murrow and Cronkite would surely be disgusted.

And that’s the way it is.

Jennifer Schulze is a longtime Chicago journalist. She’s on Bluesky @newsjennifer.bsky.social and Substack at “Indistinct Chatter.” Read the original column here.