CBS vs. FOX

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Love_Spell_6
By the way, I think its so funny how much liberals hate FOX news and go out of their way to take cheap shots... The ratings speak for themselves though...

Maybe you should explain that one a little.

FOX beat all of the traditional networks numbers for the GOP Convention. That makes some sense. It was not true for the Democratic Convention. I think NBC won that one when the nets were on head-to-head.

In normal day-to-day news coverage, actually in all TV programming, the highest rated cable program does not equal the ratings of the lowest rated on air network show.

The only exceptions I'm aware of are the one mentioned above and a very few high visibility sporting events on ESPN.

I wouldn't surprize me if FOX does very well on the debates for the same reasons as the Republican Convention.

[Rudey]

"CBS stands by, and I stand by, the thoroughness and accuracy of this report, period," - Dan Rather.

-Rudey

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by Rudey
"CBS stands by, and I stand by, the thoroughness and accuracy of this report, period," - Dan Rather.

-Rudey

And how was that crow, Mr. Rather?

At least he and CBS had the professionalism to stand up and admit their mistake and appologize for it.

Something to be said for that.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
And how was that crow, Mr. Rather?

At least he and CBS had the professionalism to stand up and admit their mistake and appologize for it.

Something to be said for that.

Basically when he was standing up for this, it was something he stood behind and "I" was often used. In the apology, "I" was not used and "We" was used repeatedly in an effort to take the heat and responsibility off himself.

-Rudey

[Kevin]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
And how was that crow, Mr. Rather?

At least he and CBS had the professionalism to stand up and admit their mistake and appologize for it.

Something to be said for that.

I agree. I think that this has done a lot of damage to CBS though. I know that at least one radio station in my market dropped CBS and picked up ABC for their news provider almost solely because of this scandal.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by ktsnake
I think that this has done a lot of damage to CBS though.

Yup. They'll survive, but it will take a while to live this down.

Something interesting on the local radio station dropping CBS. I know that NBC sold all of its radio stations and the NBC Radio Network some years ago -- although the buyer still uses the name.

I thought the same was true with CBS, so I looked in my copy of the Broadcasting Yearbook, and sure enough it shows no radio stations owned by CBS. They do own 52 TV stations (usually 2 per market -- the original station and the HD or DT version).

So, it may be that CBS still originates a radio network, but has no owned stations -- or the local radio station dropped a network that has no affiliation with CBS other than using its name.

If there are any radio types onboard, help me out here.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Yup. They'll survive, but it will take a while to live this down.

Something interesting on the local radio station dropping CBS. I know that NBC sold all of its radio stations and the NBC Radio Network some years ago -- although the buyer still uses the name.

I thought the same was true with CBS, so I looked in my copy of the Broadcasting Yearbook, and sure enough it shows no radio stations owned by CBS. They do own 52 TV stations (usually 2 per market -- the original station and the HD or DT version).

So, it may be that CBS still originates a radio network, but has no owned stations -- or the local radio station dropped a network that has no affiliation with CBS other than using its name.

If there are any radio types onboard, help me out here.

Isn't their radio news program in syndication?

[Rudey]

CBS arranged for meeting with Lockhart
By Kevin Johnson, Dave Moniz and Jim Drinkard, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — CBS arranged for a confidential source to talk with Joe Lockhart, a top aide to John Kerry, after the source provided the network with the now-disputed documents about President Bush's service in the Texas National Guard.

John Kerry aide Joe Lockhart, shown here in 1998, chatted with a former Texas National Guard officer, whose number CBS provided.
AP

Lockhart, the former press secretary to President Clinton, said a producer talked to him about the 60 Minutes program a few days before it aired on Sept. 8. She gave Lockhart a telephone number and asked him to call Bill Burkett, a former Texas National Guard officer who gave CBS the documents. Lockhart couldn't recall the producer's name. But CBS said Monday night that it would examine the role of producer Mary Mapes in passing the name to Lockhart.

Burkett told USA TODAY that he had agreed to turn over the documents to CBS if the network would arrange a conversation with the Kerry campaign.

The network's effort to place Burkett in contact with a top Democratic official raises ethical questions about CBS' handling of material potentially damaging to the Republican president in the midst of an election. This "poses a real danger to the potential credibility ... of a news organization," said Aly Colón, a news ethicist at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

"At Burkett's request, we gave his (telephone) number to the campaign," said Betsy West, senior CBS News vice president.

CBS would not discuss the propriety of the network serving as a conduit between Burkett and the Kerry campaign. "It was not part of any deal" to obtain the documents, West said, declining to elaborate.

But Burkett said Monday that his contact with Lockhart was indeed part of an "understanding" with CBS. Burkett said his interest in contacting the campaign was to offer advice in responding to Republican criticisms about Kerry's Vietnam service. It had nothing to do with the documents, he said.

"My interest was to get the attention of the national (campaign) to defend against the ... attacks," Burkett said, adding that he also talked to former Georgia senator Max Cleland and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean during the past 45 days. "Neither the Democratic Party or the Kerry campaign had anything to do with the documents," he said.

Lockhart said he phoned Burkett at the number provided by CBS. Lockhart also said that the documents never came up in his conversation with Burkett. Lockhart said the conversation lasted just a few minutes. "It's possible that the producer said they had documents" before his conversation with Burkett, he said.

At the end of the conversation, Lockhart said he thanked Burkett for his interest, and there was no further contact with him. Asked why he called Burkett, Lockhart said he talks to "a lot of people."

"I called you, didn't I?"

The White House said CBS' contact with Lockhart was inappropriate. "The fact that CBS News would coordinate with the most senior levels of Sen. Kerry's campaign to attack the president is a stunning and deeply troubling revelation," said Dan Bartlett, White House communications director.

Contributing: Judy Keen








Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politic...ocuments_x.htm

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by ktsnake
Isn't their radio news program in syndication?

I just don't know. I'm pretty sure I remember Westwood One buying NBC Radio -- but can't remember about CBS.

It would be funny if your local stations changed affiliations from something that has no real ties to CBS except the name.

Of course maybe it's the name they're running from.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by DeltAlum

Of course maybe it's the name they're running from.

What else would it be? Some people really are buying into the proposition that CBS is a highly biased news service. Whether or not there's any truth to that is irrelevant. If station execs see that something called CBS loses them money and something called ABC won't, they'll go with ABC every time.

[DeltAlum]

Yup.

[Rudey]

Another article on Rathergate:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/22/op...22safi.html?hp

First, Find the Forger
By WILLIAM SAFIRE

Published: September 22, 2004

Whoever, having devised any scheme or artifice to defraud transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, any writings for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. " U.S. Criminal Code, Chapter 63, Section 1343.

WASHINGTON — At the root of what is today treated as an embarrassing blunder by duped CBS journalists may turn out to be a felony by its faithless sources.

Some person or persons conceived a scheme to create a series of false Texas Air National Guard documents and append a photocopied signature to one of them. The perpetrator then helped cause the fraudulent file to be transmitted by means of television communication to millions of voters for the purpose of influencing a federal election.

That was no mere "dirty trick"; it could be a violation of the U.S. criminal code. If the artifice had not been revealed by sharp-eyed bloggers, a national election could have been swung by a blatant falsehood.

Who was the forger? Did others conspire with him or her to present a seeming government document - with knowledge of its falsity and with intent to defraud, which is a felony in Texas? Who was to benefit and how?

CBS News belatedly apologized and agreed to appoint independent examiners. That's a start.

The government and the courts have no business forcing journalists to reveal sources. But no ethic requires a journalist to protect a source who lied. Accordingly, Dan Rather went to the Texas ranch of his source and telecast Bill Burkett's admission of having falsely "thrown out the name" of someone who gave him the false evidence. Burkett now claims his real source was some hard-to-find mystery woman.

What benefit did the Bush-hating Burkett gain from CBS in return for his fake documents? One plausible answer: he got coveted access to someone high up in the Kerry campaign.

We learned last week that Burkett had reached Kerry's convention introducer, former Senator Max Cleland, to plead for access to higher-ups so as to launch a "counterattack." Cleland confirms getting the call and says he told him to try the D.N.C., (where Terry McAuliffe, as former prosecutor Joseph DiGenova noted on MSNBC, carefully denied a role only in the preparation of the documents).

When his call to headquarters was not returned, Burkett then asked Mary Mapes, the CBS producer, to help him gain the top-level Kerry access he so highly valued.

Only days before the telecast, Mapes or some other "60 Minutes" staff member delivered the goods: their "unimpeachable" source was paid off with a call from Joe Lockhart, the Clinton press aide newly hired to strip nuance out of Kerry's message. With the number supplied by CBS, Lockhart called Burkett. We don't know what was said, but the call from on high was payoff in itself.

What should CBS do now? First, release Rather's interview with Burkett in its entirety; viewers are entitled to the outtakes now. Next, let Mary Mapes, at the center of all this, speak to reporters. Third, expend some Viacom resources to track down the possible original sources, including the man whose name Burkett says he "threw out" to mislead CBS.

Appointing independent reviewers should not be a device to duck all others' questions; that's Kofi Annan's trick to stonewall his oil-for-food scandal. But lacking the power of a grand jury's subpoena or testimony under oath, victimized CBS cannot put real heat on the perpetrator or conspirators. We have hard evidence of crimes by low-level operatives here - from wire fraud to forgery - as well as the potential of high-level political involvement. Is no prosecutor prepared to enforce the law?

Conservatives should stop slavering over Dan Rather's scalp, and liberals should stop pretending that noble ends justify fake-evidence means. Both should focus on the lesson of the early 70's: from third-rate burglaries to fourth-rate forgeries, nobody gets away with trying to corrupt American elections.

-Rudey

[krazy]

Maybe general viewers will start seeing the blatant liberal bias spewed by the nets.

Well, when I think about it, if they don't see it in CNN, they certainly won't see it in CBS... Oh well...

[DeltAlum]

Funny headline to Broadcasting And Cable Magazine this week:

"CBS Takes a Licking and Keeps On Ticking"

For those of you who watch FOX, the ticking refers to the clock on the "60 Minutes" open and close...

JUST KIDDING!!!