The network that, for years, employed alleged sexual harassers Charlie Rose and CEO Les Moonves decided to lecture Americans on Friday about “doing the right thing when nobody is watching.” CBS This Morning co-host and Obama donor Gayle King was particularly sanctimonious, despite the fact that she once complained about having to cover the allegations against “my friend” Rose.
This Morning co-host John Dickerson offered an op-ed of sorts on the week's news, chiding Donald Trump, other Republicans, and the Catholic Church. Dickerson, who worked for Moonves and with Rose, scolded: “Private moments may not be so private after all. What transpires on those recordings can tell us a lot.”
With no self awareness as to the people he’s worked with, Dickerson berated: “One test of a person’s character is if they do the right thing when they don't think anybody is looking.” Well, yes. But instead of talking about CBS, he singled out others:
This week, a grand jury report showed that the Catholic Church failed that test. At the White House, staffers were facing that test daily as recordings were released by former top Trump official Omarosa Manigault Newman.
...
Newman said she kept pressing record to defend against her lying colleagues, which meant she was taking a taxpayer salary to promote the virtues of people she was privately recording because they had no virtue.
No Democrats were mentioned in this sermon on doing the right thing when no one is watching. Not Bill Clinton or Ted Kennedy (who abandoned a drowning woman in a car and delayed telling the police) or John Kennedy (who, among other things, allegedly coerced an intern to preform oral sex on an aide).
Dickerson concluded the lecture this way: “Instead of achieving excellence in front of reality show cameras, will they do the right thing when they don’t think the cameras are rolling?” King loved it, enthusing: “That is the question. It’s such a good question. Do you do the right thing when nobody is watching?”
That’s ironic coming from King. For years, she worked with Rose as he allegedly harassed and abused at least 27 women. On May 3, 2018, after the scandal was exposed, King whined on-air about having to cover it: “I don't know what to say about this.... I don't know what more we can do to Charlie Rose except a public flogging. He's gone.... I’m sick of handling it.”
That’s not doing the right thing even when people are watching. After some blowback, she retreated on May 4, 2018, saying of the Rose inquiry: “Let the chips fall where they may.”
CBS also promoted a conspiracy theory as for the reason behind the sexual harassment allegations against CEO Moonves. As of August 7, the network had delayed the findings of the Rose investigation.
And that doesn't even include Dan Rather's fake news scandal from 2004.
Bottom line: Those at CBS are in no position to lecture on “doing the right thing when nobody is watching.” Clearly, the network failed that standard.
A transcript is below. Click “expand” to read more:
CBS This Morning
8/17/18
8:42 a.m. Eastern
JOHN DICKERSON: In today's world, it's not hard to find yourself being recorded. I feel like it’s happening right now. With an explosion of security cameras and recording devices in virtually every pocket, private moments may not be so private after all. What transpires on those recordings can tell us a lot. In this morning’s "reporter's notebook," we discover the good, the bad, and the ugly of secretly recorded behavior from parking lots to the West Wing. One test of a person’s character is if they do the right thing when they don't think anybody is looking. This week, a grand jury report showed that the Catholic Church failed that test. At the White House, staffers were facing that test daily as recordings were released by former top Trump official Omarosa Manigault Newman.
OMAROSA MANIGAULT NEWMAN: General Kelly came to me and said that you guys wanted me to leave.
DONALD TRUMP: No. Nobody even told me about it.
DICKERSON: Weeks ago, the President’s former lawyer Michael Cohen released a recording showing candidate Donald Trump talked about hush money pavements to an alleged mistress that that President Trump said he knew nothing about.
MICHAEL COHEN: When it comes time for the financing —
TRUMP: Listen, what financing? — Pay with cash.
COHEN: No, no, no. I got it.
DICKERSON: Newman said she kept pressing record to defend against her lying colleagues, which meant she was taking a taxpayer salary to promote the virtues of people she was privately recording because they had no virtue. Although over the last many months, backstabbing private comments by Anthony Scaramucci and Steve Bannon suggest that Newman wasn't the only one playing a double game. Worldly people say all of this private deceit is just what happens in politics.
But, rather than recline into that cynicism, consider for a moment the case of Sue Johnson. Johnson was the woman who braved the rain and the wind to return a shopping cart to Walmart Turns out returning a shopping cart can tell you something about your character. According to Scientific American, those of us who return shopping carts do so because we are worried about the people who would have to collect them if we didn’t. This empathy is the basic building block of public service. You are not in it for yourself or your tribe. Imagine if we could measure this quaint notion when picking public servants and those who work for them. Can they pass the Sue Johnson test? Instead of achieving excellence in front of reality show cameras, will they do the right thing when they don’t think the cameras are rolling?
GAYLE KING: That is the question. It’s such a good question. Do you do the right thing when nobody is watching?
BIANNA GOLODRYGA: Pass the shopping cart test. That should be a litmus test for all politicians.
DICKERSON: How would we construct it though? It would have to be — It would have to be difficult.
KING: But John, you had a lot of material to work with this week. A lot of material and a lot of different examples.
DICKERSON: I don’t think it’s going to stop.
GOLODRYGA: Looking forward to next week. Maybe there will be mor tapes to come out.
DICKERSON: Undoubtably. Feels like that’s undoubtably true.
