Comments on: CBS Shows Their True Colors

by: Maggie M. Thornton

Sat, 26 May 2007 00:47:49 +0000

You made your point well: invalid conclusions. They are evil - especially on an evening news reports (we’ll forgive bloggers occasionally).

Maggie
Maggie’s Notebook

by: C. Harris

Mon, 07 May 2007 04:19:36 +0000

I just liked the hamburger thing.
I hold that serving the public interest includes making clear your intentions. Something that would not be unusual in common everyday conversation. Sort of like we’re doing here.
Thanks for the discussion, all. That’s what I like about this medium.

by: Frank

Mon, 07 May 2007 02:07:01 +0000

Re: the difference in talk radio versus actual news - that’s true, I should have been more explicit in the comparison. My intention was to counter your suggestion that because the air waves are the property of the American people, it is incumbent upon the broadcasters to maintain objectivity. The objectivity we all wish we could see more of in journalism is an ideological notion that has nothing to do with the arrangement between broadcasters and the United States government. Broadcasters are simply required to provide a service to contribute to the overall “good” of the American public, and they do this in the form of news coverage, public announcements, promotional air time, and educational programming.

Just to be clear, I was not arguing with your assessment of the quality of the coverage. Network news has long since been outmoded and surpassed by other forms of media, and could only be of interest to those so clueless as to mistake it as an actual worthy/reliable news source. It just seems to me that using their ineptness as a political springboard is a bit silly, and completely misses the point regarding what is wrong here.

by: Tim

Mon, 07 May 2007 00:28:17 +0000

I don’t watch CBS. I don’t like Couric either, she’s not a very good reporter. I tend to watch C-SPAN or CNN. But CNN is getting as bad as Fox these days. Glenn Beck is a drugged up fool like Limbaugh.

by: C. Harris

Sun, 06 May 2007 22:04:48 +0000

Certainly CBS is entitled to their opinion like everyone else. Not so long ago, news programs made a distinction betwen news and opinion or op-ed as do the newspapers by keeping the sections separate. When the line is blurred between news and opinion, journalism suffers.
The relative merits of ‘conservative talk radio’ like your reference to Limbaugh and Hannity, and to be fair, the ‘liberal talk radio’ which is often used to describe ‘Air America’ is exactly that, talk radio, not the evening news.
I mentioned in the post that CBS drew a conclusion that a majority of Americans believe the President mishandled the war and that it means those same people want to withdraw from Iraq. Does it also mean that those Americans all like mustard on their hamburgers?

by: Frank

Sun, 06 May 2007 19:39:44 +0000

I suppose you would say the same thing about Murrow’s take on McCarthy. Editorial journalism (public airwaves notwithstanding), is the cornerstone of a free society. I’m not defending the content of the telecast, merely the right of the network to produce it at their discretion.

And the last time I checked, the radio waves are also public domain, and “conservatives” don’t seem to have a problem with Limbaugh, Hannity and the rest of their small-minded ilk. This is typical of the skewed reasoning employed by many “conservatives” to advance their notions. By the way, I would agree that the same small-minded tactics are used by the Air America crowd, and are similarly useless in terms of adding to thoughtful discourse on social and political issues in this country.

by: Angel

Sun, 06 May 2007 14:44:27 +0000

hi there!..thats why I continued to read the NYSlimes..but enough is enough!
Have a beautiful Sunday my friend!

by: C. Harris

Sun, 06 May 2007 11:56:54 +0000

I continue to watch. Know thy enemy.

by: David

Sun, 06 May 2007 01:37:59 +0000

Wel, I stopped wacing CBS entirely in 2004, but I imagine there’s still no BS like CBS…