The back-page “Parody” in The Weekly Standard is a beauty in this week’s edition (dated April 10). It mocks the idea that CBS anchor Scott Pelley is somehow brave to decry Donald Trump as divorced from reality with his “pointed truth-telling.” The fake-news Washington Post headline was “CBS News parts ways with anchor Scott Pelley: Anchor fired for anti-Trump stance.”
The parody began: “CBS News announced yesterday that it has fired lead anchor Scott Pelley after the anchor refused to moderate his confrontational reports that showed him to be increasingly antagonistic toward President Donald Trump’s administration.”
The imaginary reporter quotes were very amusing.
“It’s simple. Scott was fired for abandoning the careful neutrality that CBS is famous for,” said longtime CBS correspondent Steve Kroft. “CBS just doesn’t tolerate ideology in the newsroom,” he added. “This is the network of Dan Rather, after all.”
Fake Lesley Stahl agreed. “Scott compromised everything we believe in as journalists just to score points and goose the ratings.”
Then the parody Pelley declared:
“I knew it was a huge risk to take on Trump,” he admitted. “I watched for decades as anchors bent over backwards to remain unbiased. And here I was, calling out a sitting president on television,” he said with a rueful laugh. “I must have been mad to think the media would stand for it.”
Earlier: Washington Post columnist honors Pelley for his snarky "bias for the truth."
