“Varied Ideological Perspectives”: a new goal promised for CBS under Skydance

[only1moore]

Skydance CEO David Ellison Pledged to FCC He Would ‘Ensure’ CBS News Coverage Reflects ‘Varied Ideological Perspectives’

In meeting with FCC officials, Skydance's David Ellison promised that CBS's "editorial decision-making reflects the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers."

variety.com

 

[TheBigA]

That's a nice thing to say. I'm not aware that Ellison has any experience as a journalist.

The supreme court is expected to deliver equal justice under the law. At least that's what it says over the front door.

 

[Delete My Account]

Fox, Salem and others aren't expected to promise the same, and yet their businesses are under no pressure from the current FCC or those before this one.

Yet both of them actually were found guilty of distorting the news and had to pay settlements as a result.

Things that make you go hmmm.

 

[michael hagerty]

Skydance CEO David Ellison Pledged to FCC He Would ‘Ensure’ CBS News Coverage Reflects ‘Varied Ideological Perspectives’

In meeting with FCC officials, Skydance's David Ellison promised that CBS's "editorial decision-making reflects the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers."

variety.com

That'll be swell.

Look, seriously, when there was a spectrum of ideas, a seriously broad middle, that could be interesting. In fact, it was. But today, your spectrum looks like this:

 

[Rusty Muck]

Skydance CEO David Ellison Pledged to FCC He Would ‘Ensure’ CBS News Coverage Reflects ‘Varied Ideological Perspectives’

In meeting with FCC officials, Skydance's David Ellison promised that CBS's "editorial decision-making reflects the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers."

variety.com

It's an empty promise, but only because the clock is ticking on when David sells off CBS and the owned-stations.

It's reminiscent of when GE bought RCA and couldn't wait to jettison NBC Radio. Radio didn't fit in GE's plans one bit, and CBS doesn't for Skydance.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Seems unlikely that the lobbying went down as described. This administration. via the FCC, is not looking for varied opinions or unbiased journalism, so offering those promises would not help his cause. The promise has to be to bend the knee and ensure nothing but flattering, gushing coverage of the Dear Leader.

 

[michael hagerty]

Seems unlikely that the lobbying went down as described. This administration. via the FCC, is not looking for varied opinions or unbiased journalism, so offering those promises would not help his cause. The promise has to be to bend the knee and ensure nothing but flattering, gushing coverage of the Dear Leader.

Well, the phrase "varied ideological perspectives" hits differently if you believe all corporate media is liberal propaganda. It's code. Implies fairness.

And if they do present both sides, there'll be an expectation that one side wins a lot.

 

[TheBigA]

Well, the phrase "varied ideological perspectives" hits differently if you believe all corporate media is liberal propaganda. It's code. Implies fairness.

As I often say, there is no fairness doctrine. That's what makes Fox News and OANN possible. No requirement by anyone to be fair.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

They already fired Colbert, so it looks like that ideological perspective is already taken care of to please you-know-who. Of course he's gloating about it on Truth Social, adding that Jimmy Kimmel is next.

 

[TexasTom]

As I often say, there is no fairness doctrine. That's what makes Fox News and OANN possible. No requirement by anyone to be fair.

Eliminating the Fairness Doctrine allowed the rise of conservative talk radio starting in the late 80s and 90s. Prior to that, talk radio as a format had largely been limited to a handful of major market stations and generally did not have a strong ideological bias.

But the Fairness Doctrine or its absence is utterly irrelevant to Fox News and OANN -- the Fairness Doctrine never applied to cable networks and it is unlikely that the scarcity argument used to justify the Fairness Doctrine could have been applied to cable networks even if the FCC had wanted to expand it to cover cable. That means that even if the Fairness Doctrine had stayed in force it would have had no impact of Fox News, OANN, or for that matter, MSNBC.

Politically, I definitely lean left but the nostalgia that so many progressives have for the Fairness Doctrine is mostly misplaced.

 

[Rusty Muck]

Well, the phrase "varied ideological perspectives" hits differently if you believe all corporate media is liberal propaganda. It's code. Implies fairness.

And if they do present both sides, there'll be an expectation that one side wins a lot.

The implications are that whomever buys CBS and the owned-stations from David would be agreeing to such a standard. Which is not out of the realm of possibility given both would be sold for scrap.

If anyone actually thinks David Ellison really wants to keep CBS, let alone have any direct involvement with it for the long term, they're fooling themselves. He just wants Paramount.

 

[tall_guy1]

Maybe Tucker Carlson will become a new correspondent on 60 Minutes.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

will the Ellisons pay big bucks for the NFL or dump an NFL-less CBS and fading cable channels?

 

[michael hagerty]

Maybe Tucker Carlson will become a new correspondent on 60 Minutes.

Well, this week, that wouldn't buy them any points with the administration:

"You are not allowed to dismiss my questions as a United States citizen with a wave of the hand in an attack on my character. You get the middle finger in the face from me for doing that until you stop doing it."

https://meidasnews.com/news/tucker-carlson-torches-trump-over-epstein-dismissal

 

[michael hagerty]

will the Ellisons pay big bucks for the NFL or dump an NFL-less CBS and fading cable channels?

We've covered this in other threads, but I don't think anyone expects Skydance to keep CBS and the cable stuff. Ellison wants Paramount Pictures and Paramount+, not for what it is but for its potential. That's it.

If the NFL could drive subscribers to Paramount+, I could absolutely see Ellison paying to have it.

 

[TheBigA]

Politically, I definitely lean left but the nostalgia that so many progressives have for the Fairness Doctrine is mostly misplaced.

The only reason I mentioned the fairness doctrine is the topic of this thread, where the new owner of Paramount & CBS is promising "varied ideological perspectives." That's absolute BS. They talk about unbiased news coverage. What examples of unbiased news coverage can conservatives point to? If that's what conservatives want, why didn't they do that with VOA? Instead they replaced in-house reporting with OANN. That's their idea of unbiased coverage. They hire someone like Kari Lake or Brent Bozell who will do the complete opposite.

 

[michael hagerty]

The only reason I mentioned the fairness doctrine is the topic of this thread, where the new owner of Paramount & CBS is promising "varied ideological perspectives." That's absolute BS. They talk about unbiased news coverage. What examples of unbiased news coverage can conservatives point to? If that's what conservatives want, why didn't they do that with VOA? Instead they replaced in-house reporting with OANN. That's their idea of unbiased coverage. They hire someone like Kari Lake or Brent Bozell who will do the complete opposite.

Exactly. They're still arguing that "conservatives have no voice in media" when, for 30-plus years, since Limbaugh and the launch of FOX News, that voice has not only existed, but grown louder and exerted enormous influence over events and policy.

It's intended to keep the victim mentality alive.

 

[TheBigA]

Those of us on the radio side have seen this movie before. There was a time when radio was in the hands of the creators. Admittedly it was a brief time, and wasn't very successful. But radio programming was about freedom of expression and varied musical perspectives. Then the corporate guys came in, streamlined the sound, took out all the variety, and came up with Album Oriented Rock, overseen by consultants who do the music research and come up with consensus music that drives ratings and revenue. We all know how that's done.

That's what's happening here. For a while, news was left to news people. They were kind of nerdy looking people with glasses and suits, speaking in complete sentences, and asking tough questions. But that made the rich & powerful nervous. They'd go on 60 Minutes and get taken to the cleaners by Mike Wallace. Now that the rich & powerful run the government, they want to change that. They want to replace the nerdy news people with smiling, happy people. They did it when Ted Koppel left Nightline. Have you watched it lately? It's more like Inside Edition. That's what we can expect from David Ellison.

 

[michael hagerty]

Those of us on the radio side have seen this movie before. There was a time when radio was in the hands of the creators. Admittedly it was a brief time, and wasn't very successful. But radio programming was about freedom of expression and varied musical perspectives. Then the corporate guys came in, streamlined the sound, took out all the variety, and came up with Album Oriented Rock, overseen by consultants who do the music research and come up with consensus music that drives ratings and revenue. We all know how that's done.

That's what's happening here. For a while, news was left to news people. They were kind of nerdy looking people with glasses and suits, speaking in complete sentences, and asking tough questions. But that made the rich & powerful nervous. They'd go on 60 Minutes and get taken to the cleaners by Mike Wallace. Now that the rich & powerful run the government, they want to change that. They want to replace the nerdy news people with smiling, happy people. They did it when Ted Koppel left Nightline. Have you watched it lately? It's more like Inside Edition. That's what we can expect from David Ellison.

This. All day long this.

And if 60 Minutes survives—-and that’s a BIG “if”, no matter who owns CBS—-you’re very likely to to see it morph into something similar. An hour of “That’s Incredible!” masquerading as news.

 

[gr8oldies]

Eliminating the Fairness Doctrine allowed the rise of conservative talk radio starting in the late 80s and 90s. Prior to that, talk radio as a format had largely been limited to a handful of major market stations and generally did not have a strong ideological bias.

But the Fairness Doctrine or its absence is utterly irrelevant to Fox News and OANN -- the Fairness Doctrine never applied to cable networks and it is unlikely that the scarcity argument used to justify the Fairness Doctrine could have been applied to cable networks even if the FCC had wanted to expand it to cover cable. That means that even if the Fairness Doctrine had stayed in force it would have had no impact of Fox News, OANN, or for that matter, MSNBC.

Politically, I definitely lean left but the nostalgia that so many progressives have for the Fairness Doctrine is mostly misplaced.

The history of the doctrine has been re-written and romanticized. I see memes claiming it applied to print.