This is a Viacom problem now. Their broadcast TV and cable businesses obviously have no integrity whatsoever, and are in desperate need of adult supervision.
My suggestion would be to contact the non-management directors at Viacom:
nonmanagementdirectors@viacom.com
Here is what I sent to them:
Dear NMDs,
It is beyond reasonable dispute that Viacom broadcast businesses have perpetrated two massive frauds in the past 3 weeks:
- First there was the CBS News story that relied on forged documents and a dubious source to report that President Bush had not fully performed his duties in the Air National Guard in the early 70s. Not only was the basis for the story false, CBS News ignored dozens of indications that the story had problems, ranging from document experts who expressed significant doubts to relatives and contemperaneous witnesses who contradicted the central claims of the story. CBS has yet to fully apologize for the story, and is instead conducting an investigation.
- Second, Viacom's MTV and its Rock The Vote initiative, assisted earlier tonight by yet another fraudulent report by CBS News, have been intimating that there is a "secret plan" to reinstitute the military draft should the president be reelected. There is no basis for this contention whatsoever, and in fact those who have submitted legislation to reinstitute the draft are from the opposition party.
Both of these items represent fraudulent attempts to influence an election, and are exposing Viacom to potential criminal and civil liability, endangerment of its broadcast licenses, and comprehensive consumer boycotts. Incredibly, as best I can tell, no one involved with these frauds has to my knowledge been disciplined and there appears to be little if any desire on the part of the company's management directors to do so.
It appears that unless the company's non-management directors step in and take decisive action to create a climate of integrity at CBS News, and order its MTV Rock the Vote effort to conduct itself in a nonpartisan manner, further damage to those businesses and Viacom as a whole may very well occur. Further, if you don't take action, you may as directors be candidates for shareholder litigation. The stock has already dropped about 8% in the two-plus weeks since National Guard story forgeries were exposed, while the rest of the market has gone down very little.
Please take action to stop the bleeding.
have been intimating that there is a "secret plan" to reinstitute the military draft should the president be reelected.
The piece is fraudulent because of what it did not disclose, it distortions of Cocco's identity as an Republican and a "Bush supporter" who might "cross over" and the timing of the piece. But where was the allegation of a secret plan?