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Washingtonian Piece on Cami McCormick

K

KMan

Cami McCormick was CBS Radio's go to reporter for most of the 2000s. If there was a big story, she was covering it, whether it was politics, hurricanes, or Iraq and Afghanistan. Frequently she'd lead the newscast, breathlessly delivering a report before tossing to the anchor in the studio. When Iraq was at its worst in 2006, she was one of the few journalists on the ground, still covering the story. Injured in Afghanistan in 2009, she's been back to work on a less than full time basis. She does a great job covering the state department and the Pentagon, but I've missed her live coverage from the big stories. Hearing her coverage in Kiev earlier this year was remarkable. This is the first article detailing her struggle and injuries, five years after it happened.

http://www.washingtonian.com/articl...ry-about-combat-and-its-aftermath-is-her-own/
 
Great story. I know several more radio reporters just like her who have been injured covering war stories. Anyone who says broadcast reporters aren't real journalists should be forced to live her life.
 
TheBigA said:
Great story. I know several more radio reporters just like her who have been injured covering war stories. Anyone who says broadcast reporters aren't real journalists should be forced to live her life.
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She is the exception, not the rule, despite her lack of newspaper or wire service experience. The vast majority of "broadcast reporters" are not real journalists by any meaningful standard. What's most telling is how McCormick is relegated to Westwood One's networks (operating under various TV news "brands") while an opportunist like Lara Logan gets the plum assignments for TV (speaking of people who are not real journalists).

It's also a shame she's stuck at Westwood One, since the only real journalism for radio is being done at NPR.
 
Radio network news is not part of CBS News, neither is news on the CBS O&O radio or television stations, and they have not been part of CBS News for 50 years. McCormick's work does not appear on the Evening News, 60 Minutes, CBS This Morning or any CBS News broadcast.
 
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I'm with TheBigA ... the CBS Radio anchors and correspondents work for CBS News; their product is distributed by Westwood One.

Dan Raviv makes an occasional appearance as a TV Correspondent reporting for the CBS Evening News.
 
KMan said:
I'm with TheBigA ... the CBS Radio anchors and correspondents work for CBS News; their product is distributed by Westwood One.
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Agreed; CBS produces the news content with their people; Westwood handles ad sales and distribution. This is much the same as the deal between ABC and Cumulus. And in neither case has it been separated "for 50 years!" FL thinks a misogynist* is a woman who works in a massage parlor, and that there's no difference between her and a female news anchor...

(* This gag only works if you say it out loud.) :)
 
Possibly some of you will recall a small kerfuffle when Charles Osgood took over as host of Sunday Morning. Osgood does commercials on his radio features but CBS News policy does not allow "journalists" to do commercials. A special exception had to be made for Osgood. If he had been a "CBS News" employee on the radio, how did he get around a long-standing CBS News policy?

In 1965, CBS President John A. Schneider removed radio and owned stations from the CBS News Division to get away from commercial restrictions imposed by CBS News, like limits on number of commercial limits and a ban on commercial endorsements by CBS News air talent. This move was later dramatized in the movie "Network" when Robert Duvall tries to do the same thing. The move made local TV news a profit center. Shortly after this, CBS2 News in New York was responsible for 10 per cent of the broadcast division's profits. CBS News continued to lose money.
 
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FredLeonard said:
In 1965, CBS President John A. Schneider removed radio and owned stations from the CBS News Division to get away from commercial restrictions imposed by CBS News, like limits on number of commercial limits and a ban on commercial endorsements by CBS News air talent.
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That may be, but clearly that situation is no longer the case because, as I demonstrated, the Chairman of CBS News oversees all news platforms, including network radio.

My understanding is that news at the owned stations division (radio or TV) is not part of CBS News.
 
Respectfully, FredLeonard is wrong.

CBS Radio News (a/k/a The Network) is, in fact, part of CBS News. The staff are paid by CBS News. The newsrooms are located within CBS News bureaus. The Radio and TV staff are in constant contact and engage in joint news gathering and reporting all the time. Westwood One provides distribution through a management contract.

Mr. Osgood's broadcasts were removed form the "CBS News" brand because of his desire to read commercials. As Mr. Osgood was/is quite the moneymaker for the corporation, he was required to merely identify his radio pieces as being "On The CBS Radio Network" as opposed to being told take his act elsewhere.
 
FredLeonard said:
She is the exception, not the rule, despite her lack of newspaper or wire service experience. The vast majority of "broadcast reporters" are not real journalists by any meaningful standard. What's most telling is how McCormick is relegated to Westwood One's networks (operating under various TV news "brands") while an opportunist like Lara Logan gets the plum assignments for TV (speaking of people who are not real journalists).

It's also a shame she's stuck at Westwood One, since the only real journalism for radio is being done at NPR.
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What, pray tell, is a real journalist? And to whom would you ascribe the title? Can someone earn your approval without having worked in print or NPR?

As for Lara Logan, she spent years toiling in Afghanistan, on her own dime, freelancing for (get this...) CBS Radio News. She's been shot at, survived an IED attack on the vehicle in which she was traveling, and often got to the front lines before anyone did. She did the same later in Iraq.

Has she screwed up? You betcha. But she's no more the opportunist that the rest of us who fight to get a story and get it on the air. As for her being pushing her own career, good for her. In this business, nobody helps you get ahead. You constantly have to prove yourself. And it's twice as hard if you're a woman. Even if you get the story of the century, the newsroom bosses still expect you to fetch them their coffee.
 
> What, pray tell, is a real journalist?

Cronkite was. So, were Collingwood, Sevareid, Hottelet and Smith among others. But they were UniPressers and there aren't any left.

> And it's twice as hard if you're a woman.

Bull. Get hired on affirmative action. Yell "discrimination" if you get fired; or "glass ceiling" if you don't get that promotion. Flirt with the boss for special treatment. And with co-workers to get them to do your work for you. And take off while the guys keep working because you should "have it all." I've run into a few exceptions. Mostly the other women ostracized those with a strong work ethic. Coffee? Where are you? 1960? Tell me, does repeating the femi-nazi line and "feeling their pain" help you score?

I just looked at the list of CBS News bios on their website. No radio types. The list goes from Anthony Mason to Sonya McNair. No McCormick.

No, I don't consider people at NPR real "journalists" but their product is light years ahead of CBS Radio News. 40 seconds per story, mostly filled with extraneous sound bites and little real information. Terrible writing. And how come the World News Round-up has almost zero world news (actually it's mostly filler so stations can pop out anytime). If it has any corporate connection to CND, no wonder radio is kept at arm's length. Apparently the only real connection is use of recycled TV audio. Even Osgood has gotten lazy and most of his pieces are chopped up and recycled for last nights evening news. There hasn't been a decent writer doing any thing in commercial radio news since Paul Harvey died.
 
FredLeonard said:
Bull. Get hired on affirmative action. Yell "discrimination" if you get fired; or "glass ceiling" if you don't get that promotion. Flirt with the boss for special treatment. And with co-workers to get them to do your work for you. And take off while the guys keep working because you should "have it all." I've run into a few exceptions. Mostly the other women ostracized those with a strong work ethic. Coffee? Where are you? 1960? Tell me, does repeating the femi-nazi line and "feeling their pain" help you score?

. There hasn't been a decent writer doing any thing in commercial radio news since Paul Harvey died.
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Ah yes, Fred and El Rushbo joined at the hip again. Femi-nazis now, even. Nice work, Shemp.
 
NewsStud said:
As for Lara Logan, she spent years toiling in Afghanistan, on her own dime, freelancing for (get this...) CBS Radio News. She's been shot at, survived an IED attack on the vehicle in which she was traveling, and often got to the front lines before anyone did. She did the same later in Iraq.
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The great Kimberly Dozier, who left CBS a few years ago to be an AP Print Reporter, was a CBS Radio Correspondent before moving to TV. Same with current international correspondent Charlie D'agata.
 
A stopped clock is right twice a day. For Rush, it's Donovan McNabb and Femi-Nazis. Trying to be funny again? The name "Jeff" gives the impression that you're a guy.
 
FredLeonard said:
No, I don't consider people at NPR real "journalists" but their product is light years ahead of CBS Radio News. 40 seconds per story, mostly filled with extraneous sound bites and little real information. Terrible writing. And how come the World News Round-up has almost zero world news (actually it's mostly filler so stations can pop out anytime)... Even Osgood has gotten lazy and most of his pieces are chopped up and recycled for last nights evening news. There hasn't been a decent writer doing any thing in commercial radio news since Paul Harvey died.
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Paul Harvey, really? If anyone was ever guilty of stuffing his scripts with slanted "reporting," pseudo-folksy BS, and drooling commercials for the sometimes-phony products who sponsored him (a few posts back, you were clobbering Osgood for doing commercials at all; Harvey considered them "part of the news") it was old toothy Paul. Between him and Rushbo, your true colors are showing. (And yes, as you oddly remarked in your last post, I am a "guy." What exactly are you inferring, anyway?)
 
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