CBS News has quietly erased one of its own narratives about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a move that has fueled new questions about bias at the network. The now-deleted post featured anchor John Dickerson suggesting that the motives of accused assassin Tyler Robinson “remain elusive” and likening the act to “violence not driven by an obvious political ideology.”
But that framing quickly collided with official accounts. Utah Governor Spencer Cox was explicit in describing Robinson’s politics: “There clearly was a leftist ideology with this—with this assassin,” he told NBC. FBI Director Kash Patel went further, pointing to text messages in which Robinson wrote he had “the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk” and intended to follow through. Patel also revealed that when asked to explain why, Robinson responded: “Some hatred cannot be negotiated with.”
WHAT?! “Motive remains elusive.” “Not driven by an obvious political ideology.” “Vague, second-hand testimony.”
Interview on ‘CBS Evening News Plus’ asserts the Charlie Kirk assassination and the Annunciation Catholic school shooting might be examples of nihilistic terrorism… pic.twitter.com/x1JlIgQEcD
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 15, 2025
Investigators say the evidence paints a disturbing picture. Robinson allegedly brought ammunition etched with the words “Hey fascist! Catch!” to the Utah Valley University event where Kirk was killed on September 10. He shared a home with a transgender partner, and authorities are probing whether left-wing and pro-transgender organizations in Utah had any ties to the crime.
The CBS interview itself only sharpened the controversy. Dickerson spoke with Matthew Kriner of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism, who floated the idea of “nihilistic violent extremism”—violence without clear political motive. But when Kriner began to provide examples, Dickerson cut in, insisting Kirk’s assassination be excluded because “we just don’t have enough data.”
Online, viewers saw a different story. CBS’s deleted clip was saved, reposted, and widely criticized as evidence of a deliberate effort to blur the ideological motives of a killing already documented by state and federal officials.
CBS deleted this tweet for some reason of an interview with the director of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an anti-conservative group that claims we may never know Tyler Robinson’s motive. https://t.co/Js52Ncd77d pic.twitter.com/Rc4Z5VoVh7
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) September 16, 2025
All of this comes at a sensitive moment for CBS and its parent company. After Paramount was acquired by Skydance Media, new CEO David Ellison promised regulators a shake-up in editorial standards. In meetings with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Ellison pledged “unbiased journalism” and representation of “varied ideological perspectives.” His company has already appointed a former Hudson Institute president as CBS’s ombudsman and is reportedly close to bringing in journalist Bari Weiss as editor in chief.
That context makes CBS’s deletion doubly significant: it’s not simply about one segment but about whether the network will follow through on Ellison’s commitments. As media watchdog Curtis Houck put it on X, “Bari and the Ellisons have a lot of work to do.”
