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| CBS News Asks Batiste To Step Down As Consultant | ||
| 2007-05-12 | ||
CBS News Vice President, Standards and Special Projects Linda Mason confirmed to me that Batiste was asked to vacate his position. “When we hire someone as a consultant, we want them to share their expertise with our viewers,” she said. “By putting himself front and center in an anti-Bush ad, the viewer might have the feeling everything he says is anti-Bush. And that doesn’t seem like an analytical approach to the issues we want to discuss.” She said that Batiste's appearance in the ad marked a violation of CBS News standards, in which “we ask that people not be involved in advocacy.” Added Mason: “We might still go to the general to ask about things, but not as a consultant to CBS News.” “General Batiste took part in a commercial that’s being shown on television to raise money for veterans against the war,” she said. “It isn’t just that he took an advocacy position.” She also said that the decision would have been the same had Batiste appeared in a similar ad in support of the president.
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| Posted by:Steve White |
| #9 like Couric's "My Diary" speech that turned out to have been knowingly written for her, but actually plagiarized from a second writer? She should've been fired on the spot |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-05-12 13:34 |
| #8 It's not that she's a woman, it's that she lies constantly, twisting the "News to her own (Bosses) ends. the lies and twisting is why she's not doing well, I watched at first, after catching her in many outright fabrications, twists and slants, I stopped. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2007-05-12 12:34 |
| #7 Dianne Sawyer did fine. My guess is that the CBS people can't bring themselves to admit that their fabrication of "news" to support the Dems in recent years has destroyed their credibility and devalued the brand. Being a woman has nothing to do with it. Being an airhead peddling politicized schlock instead of information does. |
| Posted by: RWV 2007-05-12 12:25 |
| #6 btw - before you start liking Linda Mason for this one right thing, remember that she's the one in an interview who noted that Katie Couric's CBS News is sinking like a rock because she's a woman: I'm just surprised at how, almost 30 years after I worked on the "Evening News" as the first woman producer, that Katie is having such a tough time being accepted by the public, which seems to prefer the news from white guys, and now that Charlie's doing so well, from older white guys. I guess they want the reassurance of a Walter Cronkite. I had no idea that a woman delivering the news would be a handicap. And I'm afraid that Katie's paying a price for being the first woman. But I think it's a great trail that she's blazing, and I think if the broadcast continues to be as good as it has been, if we continue to break news, if we continue to tell interesting stories, people will start to watch. It takes time, I think. But I was surprised that there was an obvious connection between a woman giving the news, and the audience wanting to watch it. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-05-12 10:51 |
| #5 strange that he was welcome on Olbie's show? /sarc |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-05-12 10:40 |
| #4 On top of all that, with the exception of one or two, their wives dress them strangely. LOL! You're a mean SOB. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-12 07:34 |
| #3 I have no use for "flag officer" talking heads on TV. They've had their day in the sun, and most of them would have never let out so much as a whimper or a frown while still in uniform. Plenty of opportunity to carp or resign under Rumsfeld, but few if any did. We've grown a fine breed of "yes men." All the arm chair quarterbacking and media verbal assaults in hell won't produce a damn thing. It's mindless jibberish from men who should know better. On top of all that, with the exception of one or two, their wives dress them strangely. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2007-05-12 05:55 |
| #2 Didn't run the general through the tradecraft course, in a hurry maybe. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-12 04:59 |
| #1 “By putting himself front and center in an anti-Bush ad, the viewer might have the feeling everything he says is anti-Bush. And that doesn’t seem like an analytical approach to the issues we want to discuss.” If it was good enough for Dan Rather ... |
| Posted by: DMFD 2007-05-12 00:33 |