In July, CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global, agreed to pay President Donald Trump $16 million after he sued over an edited interview featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris.

That wasn't Trump's only victory over the network, as this past week it promised to stop editing interviews following complaints by a key member of his administration. 

Kristi Noem accuses network of engaging in a "whitewash"

According to Fox News, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem alleged that CBS News had cut out remarks she made to "Face the Nation" host Ed O'Keefe about illegal migrant and alleged gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

"I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety," Noem said in a social media post.

This morning, I joined CBS to report the facts about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Instead, CBS shamefully edited the interview to whitewash the truth about this MS-13 gang member and the threat he poses to American public safety.

Watch for the part of my interview that @CBS tried to… pic.twitter.com/28fsGZug48

— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) August 31, 2025

Variety magazine noted that CBS News reacted to the DHS secretary's allegations by announcing that it will no longer edit interviews.

Interviews will now be live or live-to-tape

"In response to audience feedback over the past week, we have implemented a new policy for greater transparency in our interviews," the company was quoted as saying in a statement on Friday.

"'Face The Nation' will now only broadcast live or live-to-tape interviews (subject to national security or legal restrictions)," it explained.

"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," the statement stressed.

However, the move was met with opposition from critics, including Mark Lukasiewicz, who serves as dean of Hofstra University's School of Communication.

Critic says CBS News made "the wrong decision"

"We are well beyond slippery-slope territory now. A national news organization is apparently surrendering a major part of its editorial decision-making power to appease the administration and to bend to its implied and explicit threats," Lukasiewicz told Variety.

"Choosing to edit an interview, or not, is a matter for newsrooms and news organizations to decide. The government has no business in that decision," he insisted.

"Yet this administration has shown it will use its vast powers — regulatory, investigative, prosecutorial, budgetary  — to bend institutions to its political will," the academic continued.

"The threat and reality of official retaliation looms ever larger over every journalist and newsroom in America. This is the wrong decision for CBS and for the future of a free press," Lukasiewicz went on to add.