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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (71486)	9/18/2004 11:04:22 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 794009

The emails to the local CBS stations are working, folks. Kerryspot MORE MESSAGES FROM AFFILIATES I've debated whether to quote affiliate managers' e-mails or not. I think I'm going to identify them by state. On the one hand, these guys sent these e-mails to concerned viewers, and didn't necessarily expect them to be posted for the world to see on the Kerry Spot. On the other hand, this is their response to the members of the public, so it probably ought to be public. Either way, more strong messages against Rather from affiliates. From an Oklahoma CBS station: We are a CBS affiliate we have a contract to air their programming and news related shows. That said we are independent of any comments and positions of CBS network. We at [local station] try our best as journalist to be fair and balanced in our coverage of all issues. If the question is do we stand behind them the answer is no. It is an unfortunate situation that we as a local station are just caught in the middle of. From a Tennessee station: I would never personally advocate the disassociation of [our station] from the rich heritage of pioneer TV journalism from CBS News under the likes of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. I feel in my heart that the most recent turn of events will go down in journalism history as an aberration for CBS News. It certainly is not the norm. Many of us here at the station are also disturbed by the tone, composition and presentation of the Texas Air Guard story. We’ve expressed our discomfort to the network in frank and candid terms. Rest assured many other CBS affiliates are doing likewise. Rest assured that many employees WITHIN CBS News are also restless with the story and its ensuing controversy. We’ve heard in recent weeks how hurricanes, albeit destructive in their nature, are nature’s way of “cleaning” the environment. Well, perhaps this unfortunate issue, albeit destructive, may result in what could be an overdue cleaning of a broadcast environment. Also, it should serve as a warning to all other news organizations that regardless of rich heritage, the commitment to truth in reporting, integrity and honesty must be constant and can not wane – not even for one story. Again, many thanks for taking the time to write and please accept me personal assurance that you will always receive “down the middle” journalism from [our station] as long as it is independently owned and operated by... its current management team. Doing as you suggest is akin to not watching UT football because of something the SEC has done. UT has no “control” over the SEC. The local affiliates have no “control” over the networks. [Our station] is packed full of good, hard working, community minded and dedicated broadcast professionals. They shouldn’t be judged or penalized because of a decision made in New York by people they’ve never met and probably never will. But, that’s just my opinion. From a Florida CBS affiliate: It is rare that I pass the buck, but I must forward your e-mail to our contacts at the CBS network. Although we are both a CBS and [another network] affiliate, we are not owned or operated by that either company. I will forward your note to my contacts at CBS. Please know that we appreciate the feedback, and do what we locally can to provide a balanced and informed perspective on local and national news. Finally, a gentleman who claims to be a former CBS corporate official e-mails in, "By all means keep up the pressure, and the affiliates are the key pressure point. But everyone must be very professional, very businesslike. No raving. It's all about brand equity. Rather is a dead man walking." Whether this man is who he says he is, he speaks the truth - all communications to the affiliates must be polite but firm. The affiliates are not directly responsible for this report, but they now are responsible for making sure CBS retracts the story and deals with Rather appropriately. UPDATE: One more, from a Missouri station: thank you for taking the time to give us your views. We have spoken to many viewers over the past few days who have similar concerns. If you surveyed [this station's] employees as individuals you'd probably find that many have serious questions about the validity of the material CBS released, and/or how they chose to release it. But as a media organization it is our roll to report every side of the story as fairly as we can, without favoring one view or another, and let the public decide. That is the best way of making sure the truth comes out. As evidence in that regard, the vast majority of the focus on this particular story has not been whether President Bush did anything wrong while in the National Guard. Starting just a few short hours after the story was released, the focus became a question of whether CBS did something wrong in either how the released the information, or whether they were responsible in even releasing it at all under any conditions. Far from being a coup for CBS News, this has turned into a debacle that I don't think they ever imagined. We are making sure that CBS is aware how our viewers feel about this story. And we will continue to report the story as it develops, no matter where it leads. And we are confident that viewers like yourself will sort out the facts. UPDATE, AGAIN: This is having an effect. The CBS Denver affiliate has put a link on its home page stating, "You can register your comments about Dan Rather's 60 Minutes report by phone. Call our Opinion Line at (303) 830-6554 and we'll pass it on to CBS News in New York." From a Nebraska affiliate: We have expressed the concerns of our viewers to our CBS representatives and will continue to do so.