Moms for Liberty co-founder scolds CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’
Tiffany Justice says ’60 Minutes’ didn’t live up to its storied history during feature on conservative parental rights group.
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tiffany Justice blasted CBS News’ "60 Minutes" for what she feels was a deceptive editing job of an interview that aired Sunday about the conservative organization dedicated to parental rights.
"I think that ‘60 Minutes’ came in expecting us to be ‘Looney Tunes,’" Justice told Fox News Digital.
"I think that they didn't get what they wanted out of the interview, which was they wanted some ranting and raving lunatic who was, you know, just wanting to get rid of… teaching and learning in general," Justice continued. "And we sat down, and we wanted to have an honest conversation with them about the state of literacy in America, the fact that we have a national crisis on our hands with only a third of children reading on grade level."
"60 Minutes" aired the segment on Sunday night, more than four months after it was recorded in October. Justice claims she and fellow Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich were "censored" by CBS News.
'60 MINUTES' HOST PRESSES MOMS FOR LIBERTY CO-FOUNDERS IN HEATED INTERVIEW: 'YOU'RE BEING EVASIVE'
"60 Minutes" host Scott Pelley pressed the co-founders of Moms for Liberty on sexually explicit books in schools during a combative segment from Sunday. (60 Minutes screenshot)
"It was heavily edited and cut to try to make us seem like we weren't sure about the real issues that are plaguing American families and children. But to be clear, we're very sure of the issues that are plaguing American families," Justice said.
Moms for Liberty, founded in 2021, has capitalized on anger from parents amid controversy over allegedly sexually explicit books present in public school classrooms and school libraries, while attracting fierce criticism from the left that it's overly censorious itself.
At one point, "60 Minutes" host Scott Pelley asked what ideology Moms for Liberty is concerned that children are being indoctrinated into. On the show, Descovich replied, "Let's just say children in America cannot read," and Pelley then narrated over the segment, claiming, "They often dodged questions with talking points."
Justice said "60 Minutes" wanted to "portray" them as dodging the question, but she said that is far from what actually happened. Justice said she recorded the interview in its entirety and has shared a partial transcript on social media. A copy of the transcript in its entirety was reviewed by Fox News Digital.
"In one case, I had just spoken about gender ideology right before Mr. Pelley said that we weren't answering the question. So, it just felt a little orchestrated, to be honest with you," Justice said.
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Indeed, the transcript indicates that Justice gave a lengthy explanation of parents being concerned about books where graphic sexual discussions are happening and other elements of "comprehensive sex education" and "private discussions happening about children's sexual orientation or gender identity in schools without their parents being a part" of the conversation immediately before Pelley asked, "I'll ask this as simply as I can. What ideologies do you find troubling?"
Descovich eventually said, "Parents do not want their children learning that they can change their gender in kindergarten through third grade. Seventy percent of parents, we know that because of the polling."
According to the Mons for Liberty transcript, Pelley later said, "So to be clear, transgender ideology is something you disagree [with]?" Justice then said, "Gender ideology has no place in American public schools," but those comments didn’t make the televised broadcast of the program.
Pelley asked about ideology multiple times during the lengthy interview, and the Moms for Liberty co-founders gave a variety of answers, but not every version made the segment, according to the transcript.
The Moms for Liberty co-founder is also annoyed that "60 Minutes" didn’t air footage of herself reading directly from some of the books that parents are concerned about.
Pelley again narrated over the segment as Justice was seen reading examples from some books that she brought in to show their sexually explicit nature. Justice said she read from roughly six different books, but CBS News essentially used a brief clip as b-roll and didn’t air her reading the sexually explicit content or illustrations.
"The question is why? Maybe they were concerned about getting an FCC fine. And isn't it amazing that it would be illegal for the national news to play me reading from a book, or showing pictures from one of the books that's in these public school libraries, but they say it's OK for minor children to have access to in a public school," Justice said.
"I did put out a tweet of me reading from a book called ‘Let's Talk About It,’ which was a very graphic depiction of how to give pleasure to a man," she continued. "Scott asked me what book it was from, and I told him, and that was cut from the interview."
CBS News did not immediately respond to a series of questions from Fox News Digital.
Moms for Liberty has criticized "60 Minutes" on social media since the segment aired.
Justice said the Moms for Liberty message is simple – that parents should lead their child’s education. She believes that parents have the power to change the future of the United States if they engage on the issues and elect people willing to fight for parental rights and the importance of education.
In the meantime, she said much of the media has proven to be on the other side of the argument.
"Americans are very concerned about the fact that they can no longer trust mainstream media. American parents are now relying on each other for information about what is best for their kids," Justice said.
"Tina and I will engage with whoever, whenever we need to, to have important conversations about the future of our country and our children," she added. "It would be nice if mainstream media and if programs like ‘60 Minutes’ lived up to their storied history."
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Fox News Digital’s Jeffrey Clark and Hannah Grossman contributed to this report.