Posted on 09/19/2004 6:38:13 AM PDT by jpw01
Edited on 09/19/2004 7:02:13 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
End-of-life issues are always difficult for any family, and the once-great news division of a once-great network is critically ill and possibly beyond resuscitation.
What is killing the remnants of CBS' credibility is the controversy over documents ''60 Minutes'' obtained that purport to reveal George W. Bush's failure to submit to a physical ''as ordered'' while he was in the Texas Air National Guard. There is also a document asserting that Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, succumbed to pressure from a superior to sugarcoat Bush's performance rating because of his influential father.
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
It's a different world out there, Dan. You're about as useful now as an IBM Selectric.
Not just CBS, but all the networks are in denial.
CBS News.... once-trusted !!????
Personally, I don't think that the Rather forgeries will hurt CBS/60 Minutes.
I don't recall ABC (or NBC) being hurt when it was discovered by General Motors that the network faked a side-impact explosion for one of their news shows.
And none too soon.
One of television's greatest news casters was one of its first: John Cameron Swayze.
The only other that comes to mind is Fox's Britt Hume.
What's this "once-trusted"? I haven't trusted The Media since the middle of the last century.
"Death knell" only in the sense that any pretense of objectivity (integrity?) is fading quickly. The emperor does not die just because the public finally realizes he is naked.
The GM story didn't screw with our democratic process.
Mainstream Media Needs to Watch the new movie 'Celsius 41.11'.
The temperature at which the brain begins to die.
Check out the preview at:
http://www.citizensunited-interactive.org/c41.11/
It's not your fathers Oldsmobile were talking about here, it's a presidential election.
This wound will fester until it smells like gangrene and is amputated.
Hopefully the operation will be a success, and the patient will die.
You don't think it will hurt CBS? Have you been in Cambodia for the last week? CBS's ratings are dropping like a stone. Their newscast last Tuesday finished behind the Simpsons reruns in the biggest market in the country. NBC and ABC's ratings were 6 times larger in 7 out of the 8 largest media markets in the country. Dan Rather(Captain Queeg) is a laughing stock and the butt of jokes on late night talk shows. Need I go on?
The ABC thing didn't happen in 2004. We now have cable news, the Drudge Report, Free Republic, and widespread access to the internet. The days of the big 3 monopoly on information are over, and now their credibility is going down in flames. (It was one thing when we knew they were biased, but now the general public knows it as well).
I have clear memories of him yelling at the television at Walter Cronkite in the early 70s.
I know he would be smiling and enjoying this Rathergate immensely.
And that, Virginia, is why there IS a Santa Claus. Dan Rather and CBS can never acknowledge that the documents are absolutely positively fakes. They would have to cooperate with an investigation of who gave them the fakes if they did that. (Not being officially sure that they have been passed a wooden nickel despite the absolute obviousness of the situation, they can claim journalistic professional confidentially of sources.)
They cannot cooperate with an investigation. The chain of custody doesn't go straight, Bill Burkett to Dan Rather. It goes through the Kerry Campaign, which must not be named for shopping the fakes, as it puts a final stake through the heart of OPERATION FAVORITE SON (Kerry's answer to the Swiftvets), all denials of Kerry Campaign complicity in Memogate, and any dim remaining hope of winning the election.
Unable to cooperate, CBS has to pretend not to understand the situation. CBS dies to keep the non-existent election prospects of John Kerry alive.
Dubya, what is best in life?
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women."
I absolutely agree. CBS is going to bite the bullet on this because they know were the truth leads. They can't afford to have Kerry and the DNC brought into this equation in any respect. It will not only destroy CBS and taint the Democrats...it will validate the claims of Republicans that the MSM as a whole is bias. CBS will take one for the team in order to protect the broader institition.
Heck, I heard today on Fox that CBS' new spin is that Dan Bartlett as at fault because he didn't object to the documents. Of course, how could Dan or the WH object to these memos when they were from someone's "personal" file. All that being said, they still have their scapegoats if need be (Burkett).
iMHO- Honest Journalissm has been slowly declining since the Reagan administration. Most of the declne came during the Clinton years.
The advent of 24 hr news -
The baby boomer journalists who hated the establishment are now the establishment.
The younger journalists are spoiled kids who lack the fire in the belly that is necessary to do investigative work.
The line that used to exist between politicians and media was soon erased when they started attending parties in Washington with hollywood stars and Democrats - not to cover the event but as invited guests.
As they started hobnobbing together they started datang and marrying each other.
They have become arrogant self-centered elitists that are spoiled. They want to be the center of attention - the news is about them.
If I managed CBS -
1. No one working as a journalist would be allowed to speak at or partipate or donate to any partisan election or party.
2. I would hire an equal number of liberal & and conservative journalists - The story would contain both views. No stoy could go to press with just one side being told.
3. Fair and balanced would include a buzz word checker. No more "ultra conservative", "radical rightwing" "extreme right Republican" while not even revealing the party when they are Democrats.
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