CBS News’ own standards watchdogs objected to a story suggesting that Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, but the network published it anyway, less than a week before Election Day.
Zeteo reported that CBS’ standards and practices unit pushed back on the piece by Isabel Vincent, a longtime New York Post reporter who quietly joined the network last month. Two network sources said the main problem was the lack of a “smoking gun.”
CBS News President Tom Cibrowski also had reservations, according to the report, but the story ran on Oct. 29. Days later, El-Sayed won his race, becoming the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.
Sources told Zeteo the story was heavily pushed by Charles Forelle and Adam Rubenstein, top deputies to CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss. A CBS News insider called it a “very normal editorial process” but acknowledged that both men helped edit it.
Much of the article recycled previously reported material, according to Zeteo, including El-Sayed’s signature on a petition supporting Mohamed Morsi after the Muslim Brotherhood leader was elected president of Egypt in 2012. El-Sayed has repeatedly disavowed the group.
Key context was added only after back-and-forth with the standards team, Zeteo reported. That included CBS’ note that Mike Rogers, El-Sayed’s Republican opponent and then a House member, voted to keep U.S. aid flowing to Egypt after Morsi took office.
Sources also raised concerns about Vincent’s reliance on Steven Emerson, whom Zeteo called a “notorious anti-Muslim activist.”
Semafor reported last month that Weiss had “personally advocated” for CBS journalists to look into El-Sayed’s supposed sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood. She also had a hand in an earlier CBS story on his deleted posts likening the COVID-19 death toll to 9/11, according to Semafor.
The Free Press, the site Weiss founded, faces its own El-Sayed backlash. Reporter Maya Sulkin claimed in a video that he gave his victory speech in Arabic, though he spoke almost entirely in English. The outlet later deleted the video, saying it contained a factual error and its “tone fell short.” Another Free Press writer, Olivia Reingold, admitted running a viral election night photo through ChatGPT.
CBS, Weiss and the Free Press did not respond to Zeteo’s requests for comment.
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