CBS pres. Heyward crawls on knees & wimpers in the White House

[donsu]

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/CA490493.html

Mr. Heyward Goes to Washington


Let the fence-mending begin. According to a Broadcasting & Cable source in Washington, D.C., CBS News president Andrew Heyward, along with Washington bureau chief Janet Leissner, recently met with White House communications director Dan Bartlett, in part to repair chilly relations with the Bush administration.

CBS News’ popularity at the White House—never high to begin with—plunged further in the wake of Dan Rather’s discredited 60 Minutes story on George Bush’s National Guard service.

An incentive for making nice is the impending report from the two-member panel investigating CBS's use of now-infamous documents for the 60 Minutes piece.

Heyward was “working overtime to convince Bartlett that neither CBS News nor Rather had a vendetta against the White House,” our source says, “and from here on out would do everything it could to be fair and balanced.” CBS declined to comment.
--------------------------

FEAR rules

[gratuitous]

1. This just in: Murrow spinning in grave at 680 rpm

Abject. Craven. Cowards.

[blondeatlast]

15. Hell, he's beating on the lid.

Poor Edwin.

Poor America.

[madrchsod]

2. i have more respect for crack whores

that suck dick for a rock than these guys....

[ooglymoogly]

3. there is something truly scary here

[The Doctor.]

4. So now CBS will be 'fair and balanced'....

Ummm, didn't CBS ASK the White House FIRST about airing those memos?

And didn't the White House LET THEM???

Yes, they did.

Because they wanted to recruit another media whore.

And oh look! - It worked!

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[shoelace414]

6. fair an balanced means

Fair to show me in a good light, and Balanced to not talk against me.

[Patsy Stone]

7. This just in

The Free Press has officially died today. It was over 200 years old and it has expired from lack of appreciation and constant pandering.

It will be sorely missed. Donations in its honor may be made to the Keep Walter Cronkite Alive Forever Fund.

[blondeatlast]

16. Democracy was seen placing a single, perfect red rose at

Free Press grave, muttering softly something about being right behind Free Press.

[w4rma]

26. This is what *always* happens when power is allowed to conglomerate

*always*

[Patsy Stone]

27. Sorta like

"Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Oy.

[Flying Dream Blues]

8. UGH

Fair and balanced=Kissing the ring like Fox, I guess.

[tridim]

9. "Dan Rather’s discredited 60 Minutes story"?

Huh? The STORY was never discredited, just the docs that Rove sent out. Fuck the WH, and in light of this story, fuck CBS too.

[underpants]

11. Exactly-What DID Ben Barnes say? (completely lost story)

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/08/60II/main641984.shtml

[Cocoa]

22. just like the late Gary Webb

and Michael Moore for that matter.

In all three cases, Rather, Webb and Moore got their stories right, but the whole media jumped on them and screamed a lot, and kept saying their stories were "discredited" and none of them were.

[Bridget Burke]

36. Yes, the documents were questionable.

But nobody has ever disputed the facts that (1) Bush used influence to get into the TANG and (2) once in, he failed to fulfill his commitments.

[jackster]

10. sickening...

what ever happened to a FREE PRESS! they're all whores!

imagine if we did not have access to independent media today? imagine those who don't? (actually, those people are primarily called "republicans") now, should we try and imagine what the next 4 or more years will look like?

with Bill Moyers gone, television news and commentary is basically a wasteland of regurgitated (sp?) garbage.

Thank God for liberal/progressive talk radio as well!

[Blue Gardener]

12. How can we get a network with a spine?

Can't somebody with some cash start a network that half of America would be willing to watch?

[oasis]

13. CBS should hire Judy Woodruff as news anchor if they really want to prove

their loyalty to the Bushies.

[SoCalDem]

14. He never answered my letter..

I wrote :


July 20, 2004

Mr. Andrew Heyward
President
CBS News
524 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019




Dear Mr. Heyward,

I understand that you are "unhappy", and "surprised" that The Daily Show won an award for news presentation...

There are a few things that you may not have realized about your "audience". The big-bucks you pay your focus groups, market researchers, poll takers, etc, are wasted, because you and your company have missed the most important thing... TRUTH...

It does not take a genius to figure out that what we get now-a-days is NOT news... It's "infotainment". We do not turn to the CBS Nightly news to be "entertained". We want to know what happened today... That's ALL we need... We do not want our news "spun" or "sanitized-for-our-protection".

To be fair, I must say that of all the current prompter readers, Dan Rather has started to tell a bit more truth. We realize that 'some' administrations are petty, vindictive and secretive, but that should be no reason for you and your news organization to capitulate and take your news report right from their faxes.

The fact that some 'journalists' are risking their lives in Iraq is very sad... To die for a lie is always a sad thing. They DO have one distinction though...They went for personal gain, fame, accolades, and maybe a book deal when they return. The soldiers, who went, have no such "treats" waiting for them.

The "in-bedding" (not a spelling error) of journalists was an especially egregious error on your part. The REAL story had you chosen to report it, was the fact that the military was so "eager" to accommodate the media... THAT was the story. It does not take a wild leap of imagination to know that "reporters", who were "suited up and encamped" with the same people who would protect their lives, would write glowing reports of their bravery and success.

CNN used to be the place to go for news... Why?? It was because they were "the fly on the wall", and we saw events unfolding, with little commentary. It is indeed sad, that instead of holding onto their principles ,even they have descended into the glitzy Fox-ified slimy journalism, like everyone else.

Those of us with satellite TV have left you and the rest in the dust, because we have found other, more credible sources for news. Example: This administration is the least respected worldwide, of ANY in hundreds of years. How do I know this? Not because I read US papers or listen/watch US networks. I go to the SOURCE... Foreign news. To read a paper here, or watch a broadcast, we would have to assume that because Afghan and Iraqi girls have pencils, all is right with the world...and that during protests here, even though an overhead shot showed that they filled the mall, "a few hundred" "anarchists and troublemakers" marched ....spin-spin-spin..

We were attacked on 9/11 , in some part, because you and your fellow news people have seen "trials of the century", shark attacks, missing blonde girls, feuding teenage divas, car chases, diet gurus, movie star shenanigans, and assorted other "fluff", as more important then NEWS , and have spoon-fed that trash to the citizens, instead of facts that we needed to know.

Globalization/consolidation of media has made it a very ugly situation. We, the public, GAVE you our public airwaves, in exchange for the obligation BY you, to inform us of the important happenings in our world. Instead of fulfilling your obligation, you and yours, TOOK those airwaves, and turned them into a cash-cow for yourselves and to HELL with us. There used to be investigative journalism, but that seems to have vanished. It's hard to investigate when the eventual target may be someone who controls the purse-strings of your own network. There is enough corruption and political evil to last a lifetime, if only some network were brave enough to dig into it. We won't hold our breath... Self-preservation and greed will win out, and we know it.


Your advertisers and corporate masters certainly have total control (even if only implied); over what you report, and more and more of us are realizing this... Notice your ratings/share dropping over the years?? Hmmm?

The Daily Show tells it like it is, and that is why it won and you didn't. They deserve to be recognized because they have than audacity to tell the truth and expose the nonsense the rest of you are serving up to us daily. Instead of getting your panties in a wad, because you were overlooked, perhaps a better tack would be to watch Jon Stewart... watch and learn.

A former viewer

name
address
phone

[davidwparker]

19. Well written

[Done]

17. Rather was never that liberal, he just wasn't conservative enough.

That's why they been attacking him for years. They won't stop until every TV news organization is just like faux.

[newyawker99]

35. Hi Done!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Done]

37. Hi New

:hi:

[tgnyc]

18. CNN chief Walter Isaacson

pulled a similar groveling act in 2001 after watching Fox News top his network in the ratings. He crawled to Capitol Hill to beg for guidance from Congressional Republicans on how to appeal more to conservative viewers.

Biyatches, all of them.

[NewJeffCT]

32. I was going to post that same thing

Prior to 2001, CNN was actually fairly good. However, after that meeting, they took a hard right turn... and, their ratings have plunged: they pissed off liberals for taking the turn and conservatives still preferred Faux News and didn't trust CNN.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

38. What can we do to get them to pander to us?

[tgnyc]

39. They have to believe it's in the money

to do so. That won't happen unless some network or news organization goes as blatantly liberal as Fox is blatantly conservative, and then does well in the ratings (meaning we would have to watch it as loyally as Fox viewers do). Air America Radio may be on the way to doing that. It if can strengthen its ratings a bit, particularly among high-earning educated audiences, CNN and others will follow the leader.

[starroute]

20. Blame Brent Bozell

L. Brent Bozell has been after CBS and specifically Dan Rather for the last twenty years. (See http://ao.nictusa.com/ao/no/840041.html) He and his associates played the crucial role in picking up the original phoney claims that the memos could have been faked using MS Word, publicizing them, and moving them along to Drudge.

I don't know whether Bozell was the original source of the memos (which all evidence suggests were authentic but of muddied provenance), or if he just made sure CBS got smeared over them. But one way or another, he was clearly in the middle of it. And he's sure gotta be doing a victory dance tonight.

[davidwparker]

21. I was going to start watching CBS again

when Rather did the story, which we all know is true. It was the trojan horse that they tripped over and this became the story, not AWOL Bush.

You know the news organizations know deceptive this administration is. One would think they'd ban together against it. Rather than bend over, go after the truth and if managers/reporters get fired, go to Pacifica or somewhere journalistic ethics.

I guess most are just interested in money and the fame.

http://democracynow.org

[yorkiemommie1]

23. cbs- mewling , simpering

i stopped watching them when they cancelled some very good shows.

[ClintonTyree]

24. Will FAUX sue CBS.................

over copywrite infringement? Of course that issue was settled by Al Franken, but I wouldn't put it past them to try again.
Yahoo! CBS wants to be "fair and balanced". I guess that means we can expect another carbon copy of FOX to enlighten the American people. I'll watch BBC from now on, or "The National" on CBC the nights I can pick it up with the old antenna. Thank gawd I didn't get rid of it.

[David Zephyr]

25. GAG.

[nascarblue]

28. How fawkin pathetic NT

[liberal43110]

29. Sick and wrong

:puke:

[Catherine Vincent]

30. No more CBS for me!

[Redstone]

31. This makes my stomach hurt...

Since when, in America, did any news outlet give a rat's ass whether they had a "chilly relationship" with the reigning administration?

Oh, that's right, it's since now. Sorry, I haven't been keeping with all the characteristics of whatever this country that used to be America has become.

Anyone else notice how much this place is beginning to resemble the old Soviet Union?

Redstone

[Z_I_Peevey]

33. The thing that has surprised me most,

during this painful time in our history, is the complete lack of bravery, both in the press and in Washington. With a few notable exceptions, there is no such thing as honor.

Sometimes when I hear people excusing these worms, these capitulators, by saying "So-and-so must have been threatened or they wouldn't be doing this cowardly thing," I just want to scream. So what? Bravery is standing up to threat. Honor is the willingness to die for an ideal.

Yes, I never would have believed that bravery could be in such short supply in the United States of America.

[AG78]

34. Good

The quicker the illusion becomes apparent to everyone, the better.

The media buddy-buddy with power. You knew it had to happen. That whole free American press thing wasn't going to last forever. It couldn't, since power will always end up making sure it covers every base.

[Learning2Fly]

40. Shades of Pravda...

soon all the networks will spout the party line.

[JunkYardDogg]

41. NeoCon Fluffers

It's an epidemic
That's probably what the missing flu vacine was for