Monday, July 03, 2006
CBS: -- THE CHICK-EN BROADCASTING SYSTEM
CBS, Columbia Broadcasting System, was once awesome among the networks that featured journalists such as the great Edward R. Murrow. Management supported him through his vicious fight with the scourge of the 1950's, Senator Joe McCarthy. McCarthy, a fascist leaning communist hunter, had most media and most politicians intimidated.
McCarthy's accusations of "communist"caused the ruin of famous persons -- actors, performers, artists, writers, and reporters. Politicians quavered in fear, and even Eisenhower himself was reluctant to cross him -- until he attacked the army.
But Edward R. Murrow, WW II foreign correspondent, and then news anchor, challenged this fearsome nemesis of freedom and helped bring him to a halt. There was a tremor among management, but in the end they stood firmly behind Murrow as he risked his own and the network's reputation to challenge the bully of the '50's.
But CBS is a pale image of those courageous networks of the past. When Dan Rather dared challenge the political bully of this decade, and his corporate cronies, the response of CBS has been shameful.
Maybe it was time for Dan to go. Maybe his age slowed him, and he lacked appeal to a younger audience. Maybe his ratings sagged. Had CBS eased Dan into a green pasture for those practical reasons, the network might still have its honor. Losing corporate sponsors may have been a problem, but not an honorable reason.
To use a Barry Goldwater campaign slogan, "In you heart, you know he's right." Most of us knew enough already to figure out that the president had dodged Viet Nam for the National Guard, and when it became safe to do so, he then dodged his National Guard duty.
Dan's story sources were not totally reliable, and he should have said so more directly, and more often, at the time.
Considering the garbage that was being circulated by Swift Boaters, and the regular dispensation of falsehoods on talk radio, and at least one of the cable networks, Rather's failure to make a stronger disclaimer at the time hardly seems to be such a major offense.
So, CBS has become the Chicken Broadcasting System. No longer do they go like gangbusters after corporate or governmental offenders on 60 Minutes. No longer do they take on powerful political interests. Controversies get the waffling, kid glove treatment.
Now, it appears that CBS will become the Chick Broadcasting System. The advent of the cute, dimpled, short-skirted Katie Couric into the anchor's chair is much awaited. Everybody loves Katie Couric. She is America's chick.
Let us hope that she also turns out to be an assertive newsperson of spirit and integrity. Let us hope for a return of courage to the network as well. We wish her Godspeed.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
