...among other format changes under the new Rick Kaplan era.
PublicEye editor Brian Montopoli passed along the usual talking points senior management in broadcast news outlets always give when they are trying to save a sinking ship. You know the drill. "This time, more hard news. We swear!"
Unfortunately Montopoli left out some hard news in his own March 12 blog post:
He failed to address Kaplan's Clinton ties nor Kaplan's post-Memogate defense of Dan Rather.
We at NewsBusters did, just check the links in the preceding paragraph.
For Montopoli's post, check out CBS's PublicEye blog.
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Neither Rick Kaplan nor the
March 13, 2007 - 01:03 ET by radiofitz34Neither Rick Kaplan nor the bluebird of happiness can save the CBS Evening News. Not long ago, my sister asked me to Tivo the CBS Evening News because her son/ my nephew might be in a news story that night. Nope Chris Waddell (my nephew) was not on the program. Unfortunately I had to endure the entire CBS News to find that out.
I was so depressed and angry after the program. Not because Chris did not appear, but because the "news" was so obviously slanted. Not even the fluff/amusing piece at the end cheered me up.
And if you wonder why liberals seem to be so angry, I guess this is one reason why.
Free Speech DEAD at CBS..
March 13, 2007 - 01:11 ET by Six String SpiffGee I didn't see that comming.. nope I think its VERY telling when a supposed "news" organization can't even keep a friggin FREE SPEECH segment alive.. They couldn't find enough socialists to stand on their soap box? Typical. Free Speech according to their standards. All they did was put on other "journalists" who echoed the same garbage that was being broadcast on a daily basis. Then, when they FINALLY had a conservative on, the liberal (ever so tolerant)masses wetn crazy. Sorry CBS. You can wrap that turd in the prettiest of paper and ribbon, but its still a TURD.
Sure, I watch the MSM... Through a pair of crosshairs.
They did have Rush Limbaugh
March 13, 2007 - 01:22 ET by Ken ShepherdThey did have Rush Limbaugh in that segment at one point.
"Free Speech" was pretty gimmicky as far as segments go, but it's an attention grabbing, and accurate headline to say the "Evening News" is axing "Free Speech."
If they really wanted to make a statement with "Free Speech" they could have aired still images of cartoons that sparked those riots in Denmark. Now that would have been edgy.
Imagine the kind of cartoon
March 13, 2007 - 02:54 ET by sarcasmoImagine the kind of cartoons they'd air if sarcasmo were accidentally put in charge of segment-content for a night...I can see why CBS would want to change things given Katie's expensive failure in the ratings, but it's impossible to explain their hiring a partisan Democrat like Kaplan considering his (& CBS's-Rather) political baggage.
JMR
Well they say the "long
March 13, 2007 - 01:44 ET by RW_the originalWell they say the "long dormant" free speech segment is probably dead. Is that like the various shows they put on hiatus forever so they can't be accused of cancelling them?
The CBS " we can't give you the news" whine.
March 13, 2007 - 05:46 ET by SportPoliticsThe CBS " we can't give you the news" whine.
[The conventional wisdom is that Kaplan has been tasked with making the show less experimental and more like its competitors than it was under Hartman...CBS News President Sean McManus, back it up. "I think in some ways we owed it to the industry to try new things. But we found at 6:30 with only 22 minutes of programming time, people basically want you to tell them what happened in the world that day," said McManus. ...Kaplan calls himself a "hard news guy," ... But there remains a fair amount of skepticism within the organization about whether that will really happen.]
Yes, I see, it's all a game. They admit they are losing, don't have the right formula, and people want real news. And, noone inside the place believes it will happen. Of course, with a thousand raging left wing symps, it would take an act of God to deliver straight news.
ps - The 6 paragraph Pulbic Eye spew gives me one fact, - dippy doodle- is taking over. It could have been 1 sentence, and that would have been news. Not even the public eye can prevent his own speculation and rumor spewing and guessing.
Kaplans' defense of "R
March 13, 2007 - 06:52 ET by motherbeltKaplans' defense of "Rathergate" explains it all:
MSNBC President Rick Kaplan, a former executive at ABC and CNN,asserted that "Dan was meticulously careful to be fair and balanced and accurate" during his career. Kaplan then lashed out: "When did we allow those with questionable agendas to take the lead and convince people ofsomething quite the opposite? (Italics mine).
Oh sure,Rick, it was others who had the "questionable agendas", not the "fair and balanced" Dan Rather.
Presumably, he said this with a straight face......
In the imortal words of Jack
March 13, 2007 - 14:15 ET by Dan The Man 2In the imortal words of Jack Nicholson - paraphrased, "The news, the news, you cant handle the news."
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark. -- save my gun, shoot a liberal.
The network news must attac
March 13, 2007 - 14:25 ET by Chris NormanThe network news must attach all those bells and whistles with cheap scotch tape, because they always fall off quickly. I predicted CBS would soon lose all the gimmicks they promised when they installed Katie in the anchor chair. When are they going to learn that news consists of an anchor, sitting in a chair, and introducing stories from reporters - period. What's the point of the anchors sitting, standing, and leaning like they're doing calisthenics? The only "gimmick" that'll help any of them is to lose the liberal bias and present both sides of the issues in an even-handed manner. All the fancy sets, graphics, features, and wardrobes ain't gonna help them - if they keep serving up the same old biased slop.
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb