Some CBS News employees expressed concern after the network cited two anonymous “US officials” to report that the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis “suffered internal bleeding to the torso” after the incident. The report, published on Wednesday, was initially posted on X and later followed by an article citing the same sources.
The story drew immediate scepticism from critics on social media, but also internal dissent within the network, according to emails viewed by the Guardian. One CBS News staffer said it was met with “huge internal concern”, while others described the conversations as standard editorial discussions.
Before publication, a medical producer suggested in an email that it would be helpful to ask what type of treatment the officer received. CBS News senior vice-president David Reiter expressed scepticism about the broad term “internal bleeding”, noting that “a bruise is internal bleeding” and that the officer had walked away from the scene on camera.
Staffers said the network’s top editor, Bari Weiss, expressed high interest in the story on an editorial call. One staffer described the report as “a thinly veiled, anonymous leak by [the Trump administration] to someone who’d carry it online”, while another said it felt like “carrying water for the admin’s justifying of the shooting”.
A CBS News spokesperson defended the story, saying the network “went through its rigorous editorial process and decided it was reportable”. Other outlets, including ABC News, NBC News, the New York Times, and Fox News, also reported on the claim, with varying levels of detail and sourcing.
