Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, recently accused CBS News of selectively editing its coverage to favor the Biden-Harris administration. His comments came as CBS criticized Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin for removing over 6,000 non-citizens from voter rolls, an action Youngkin claims was necessary to protect election integrity. Johnson’s concerns are part of a broader conservative narrative that the mainstream media downplays or omits stories that could damage Democrats. He argues that this biased coverage could influence public perception ahead of the upcoming election, potentially distorting critical issues like voter fraud.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has been vocal about how CBS framed Youngkin’s voter roll decision as controversial while glossing over the potential legal concerns about non-citizens voting.
The move is part of a broader push by Republicans to tighten election security, though critics argue that these actions risk disenfranchising legitimate voters. Youngkin’s decision was backed by an executive order aimed at ensuring that only legally eligible voters could cast ballots in Virginia, a crucial swing state in upcoming elections.
“Here’s the problem. There’s a number of states that are not requiring proof of citizenship when illegals or non-citizens register to vote. We know that’s happening. But respectfully, speaker- Everybody should want the law to be followed,” Johnson said. “There’s a number of states that are not requiring proof of citizenship when illegals or non-citizens register to vote. We know that’s happening. Look, Glenn Yunkin in Virginia, I was going to say, he issued an executive order to clean up their voting rules heading into the election. Less than 30 days out, a couple of days ago, the Obama, I mean, the Biden administration, Department of Justice, Biden-Harris Administration sued the governor in the Commonwealth of Virginia to try to prevent them from cleaning up their voter rules. See, that thing creates a lot of doubt and concern in the minds of a lot of the American people.”
Additionally, Johnson claims that CBS edits out negative perspectives on the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene, tying these media practices to broader concerns about selective coverage.
As the election approaches, the tension between political factions and media organizations is heating up, with both sides accusing the other of distorting facts. Whether these concerns about media bias will influence the electorate remains to be seen.
This comes a week after CBS released edited footage of an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris which also caused a controversy for the network.