[Keith in Iowa]

As a former employee of a SeeBS affiliate, I can tell you phone calls like this have an impact similar to a gnat landing on an elephant's butt. You'll hear a standard "we don't have any control over what the network does...blah blah blah..."

[rwfromkansas]

Exactly.

I would frankly hang up on these folks after awhile if I was working at an affiliate.

Freep the CBS Evening News, where Dan Rather's office is based....this gets you to the newsroom:

212-975-3691

Number found on this thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1133594/posts

Ask just what "investigation" went into authenticating the memos and whether they will offer an on-air retraction.

Demand they apologize for this EXTREME lapse of journalistic practice and basic skills.

Also, contact the president of CBS News, Andrew Heyward:

Phone: (212) 975-4321

Fax: (212) 975-1893

[IncPen]

Keith:

"we don't have any control over what the network does...blah blah blah..."

I worked for an O&O (a station owned and operated by the network, as opposed to an affiliate run by Cox or the like)

Freeping in the manner I've mentioned in post #8 works extremely well... at the network AND when directed at affiliates.

Affiliates get their bread and butter from the small businesses that buy airtime in the one-minute or thirty second 'holes' that the network leaves in all of its programs.

Thus Joe-Bob's furniture can buy a spot in their local station's broadcast of CBS Network news; the network makes it's money on the ads that it sells during the same broadcast.

Talk to the sales managers, and if you can, the national sales manager (one guy sells local car dealers their ads, the other guy tries to sell airtime to McDonalds) at your local station. They'll understand.

Remember: You must talk to sales, not news.