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"Newsroom culture clash" at CBS News

People who watch 60 Minutes are deep thinkers who want to be told the truth. The long time viewers will see through what the show will become and will be gone.
It seems many are aware now and that will only grow to be a larger number over time. The Colbert departure heightened awareness already; there’s no way to not make it glaringly obvious by fall what’s going on over at 60 Minutes.
 
I removed the last line, though I will point out there are other posters that continue to be quite political without any consequences.
Well as was said in a George Orwell book, "some animals are more equal than others."

This is somewhat dicey territory here, since this story is intertwined with politics. Unless you insist that it's all purely a "business decision," that might keep from drawing the ire of moderators, but given the enormous pressure the current administration/occupant of the White House is putting on media outlets of all types to get them to "tow the line" or retaliate against them for being critical, politics seems (to me) to be baked into the cake here, as it were.
 
LUnless you insist that it's all purely a "business decision," that might keep from drawing the ire of moderators, but given the enormous pressure the current administration/occupant of the White House is putting on media outlets of all types to get them to "tow the line" or retaliate against them for being critical, politics seems (to me) to be baked into the cake here, as it were.
It is intrinsically linked when politicians demand the media acquiesce to their whims.
 
Some may forget that Murrow himself was forced to leave CBS News after his TV battle with McCarthy. He left the business and went to run USIA.
He wasn't exactly forced but he was given nothing to do. According to Ann Sperber's biography of Murrow, it was Frank Stanton, the CBS president at the time, who recommended Murrow for the USIA job. By that time, Murrow may already have been dying. When you see "Harvest of Shame", Murrow's last documentary, you can see signs that Murrow was physically ill.
All the focus on Pelley takes the attention away from Bilton & Weiss,

Well, you know the saying, "names are news".

who now have to build something neither know anything about. They'll do it working for an owner who also knows nothing about broadcasting, networks, or news. Call it "reality TV TV," where people who don't have any experience win a talent contest, and are thrust into prominence, having never paid any dues or worked the 10,000 hours that it once took to get to that level. This is what it's come to.
Except, in this case, they bought their way in. In their world, if you don't have oodles of money, you're stupid.

This is the Silicon Valley "disrupter" mindset at work. Expertise is disdained, and viewed as an obstacle to the brilliance of the strategy that the "disrupter" has come up with. Opposition to that strategy is viewed as validation. They'll throw something together and declare it as victory.

Or maybe they'll lease out yet another hour to Byron Allen.

Ultimately, I think they'll hollow out CBS News and then dump the network onto someone unsuspecting (hey, maybe Byron Allen can buy that, too!) under the guise of, "it's a dying business and we couldn't make it any better"...when the reality was that it may have been a dying business, but they made it worse.

Part of me wonders what the folks at Sunday Morning are thinking. So far, they've been left alone. I'm sure that will change soon.
I'm sure they're not taking out new mortgages anytime soon.
 
ABC tried to do their own version of 60 Minutes. They called it 20/20. It wasn't as deep or as serious, even from the start, and it never won.
It also had an extremely rough start and they pretty much had to revamp the show in its first month. They brought in the tried-and-true Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters to stabilize a ship that was sinking fast.

Forgotten by many was NBC's monthly effort "Weekend", which was in the SNL slot in the 1970s and became much beloved. But SNL's success eventually overwhelmed it, and it lost the time slot that it had shared once a month with SNL.
 
Ken Auletta was just on MS-Now. He explained one of the Scott Pelley accusations. He says Bari Weiss allowed Benjamin Netanyahu to pick who he wanted for his segment on 60 Minutes. Netanyahu chose Major Garrett. Apparently Leslie Stahl had been the one working to get that interview. Major is not one of the regulars on 60 Minutes. But he may become one next season. I did a check on Garrett's bias chart, and he's seen as a centrist, although he did work at Fox News for a time.

According to Biasly, an analysis of his articles, social media, and other writings shows that Garrett demonstrates a Center media bias, meaning his reporting tends to be moderate without a strong liberal or conservative slant
 
Ken Auletta was just on MS-Now. He explained one of the Scott Pelley accusations. He says Bari Weiss allowed Benjamin Netanyahu to pick who he wanted for his segment on 60 Minutes. Netanyahu chose Major Garrett. Apparently Leslie Stahl had been the one working to get that interview. Major is not one of the regulars on 60 Minutes. But he may become one next season. I did a check on Garrett's bias chart, and he's seen as a centrist, although he did work at Fox News for a time.

Yikes! So the person being interviewed (if they have the money and clout) will get to choose the interviewer beforehand. I guess that will keep reporters from asking tough questions that the interviewee can't comfortably answer.

And, now, given what has happened at "60 Minutes,", I think that Byron Allen's show has a better chance of surviving than "60 Minutes," does. This is not only because Mr. Allen is paying for the time himself but because there is an audience of people out there who want to hear comedy as an escape from all of their stresses and not as a way to shed light on them.

Don't believe me? I'm thinking now of a certain comedy show hosted by a talented country singer that the networks rejected because it was too corny but that became very successful in syndication. Though I didn't watch or listen to it, I can tell you that many members of my family, particularly on my dad's side, were great fans of Roy Clark and "hee-Haw,", and I think that Byron Allen's show, if he plays his cards right (and that's a big "if") could do the same during this season.
 
Yikes! So the person being interviewed (if they have the money and clout) will get to choose the interviewer beforehand.

I don't think it was a paid thing. I think some politicians are hesitant to do interviews on mainstream media.

BTW Major Garrett also did the Pete Hegseth interview for 60 minutes. I doubt Hegseth would have consented to anyone else.

So yes, I expect that Garrett will be announced as Pelley's replacement for the fall season.
 
I haven't watched 60 Minutes much recently.

As we all know, Babylon Bee is satire, but the secret to the best satire is when it reveals a hidden, often unacknowledged truth.

 
If the choice is believing Weiss’s account or Pelley’s, that’s the easiest one imaginable. Scott, every day of the week.
True too given that in Pelley's case he has other CBS News Correspondents who got fired the same way as he did for pointing out the same stuff about Bari Weiss and David Ellisons role in making CBS News the way it is now. Hope all of the people that got fired by Bari Weiss and David Ellison the best of luck after CBS News.
 
I think some politicians are hesitant to do interviews on mainstream media.

Of course they do, but then...that's always been part of the gig. Some are better at it than others. I remember editing a lot of audio in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 to find sound bites that we (as a music station) could play during our news segments. I almost never had to edit Sen. John McCain. He spoke in 30-40 second sound bites. I asked someone who'd worked on his campaigns about it, and they said "oh that's on purpose. He actually practices that skill." I believe that's why he was invited back on so many shows. He was a good "media savvy" guest, and it helped raise his profile to the point where he was the Republican nominee for President. On the other side of the aisle, Pete Buttigieg is VERY good at this. He goes into "hostile territory" on Fox and more than holds his own.

What appears to be happening with the "pick your correspondent" thing is that the administration at least has decided to eschew the traditional "okay you're going up against (fill in host) and you're going to be challenged, so let's do some extra prep for this one" and are not only demanding a friendly interviewer, but that the entire news operation defer to them and jump when they say "jump" (see CBS settling with Trump for some minor edits to the Harris interview).

The media landscape has shifted mightily in recent years, but we're really entering new territory here with this Presidency. We've come a long way from "you won't have Nixon to kick around anymore" and are now at the "if you kick me around I'll sue you, have my FCC attack dog go after your licenses, and stop any merger in it's tracks."
 
What appears to be happening with the "pick your correspondent" thing is that the administration at least has decided to eschew the traditional "okay you're going up against (fill in host) and you're going to be challenged, so let's do some extra prep for this one" and are not only demanding a friendly interviewer,

It's about what questions get asked and don't get asked. Typically most news interviews don't allow the guest to put any limits on questions. There are a lot of subjects they want to avoid. One way to avoid them is to speak with Fox News. It's softball city. The white house deals with unplanned questions all the time with the gaggles. Those aren't formal interviews, just questions thrown at the president. He often uses them to attack the reporter. Having that kind of access has made the press secretary superfluous.

The media landscape has shifted mightily in recent years, but we're really entering new territory here with this Presidency.

One guy who changed the rules was Lyn Nofziger. He was Reagan's media advisor. He was a former print reporter who got into politics through Nixon and then Reagan. He was part of the California mafia. But he found ways to use the press to work to the president's advantage without them realizing it. Whenever I see that tactic used, I think of Lyn. He's been dead for a while, but he'd be very comfortable with what's going on now.
 


NPR did an interview with former "60 Minutes" reporter Steve Kroft about the firings at "60 Minutes." While only the audio is there now, I expect a transcription to be available either later this evening or tomorrow morning. After listening to the interview, I will tell you that Mr.Kroft believes that (and hopefully I'm quoting from my memory correctly) ""60 Minutes" is being executed upon the instructions of the President of the United States."" Of course, he has no proof of this (and neither do I nor anybody who has commented on this thread), but to me, given what the Ellisons want the current U.S. President to do for them, Mr. Kroft's belief is not as farfetched as some might think.
 
And it goes without saying that - should a Democrat win the election in 2028 and decide that the likes of "The Five" and Greg Gutfeld(!) on Fox News needed to be sued into non-existence/shut down by the (fill in the blank) administration, the people who are cheering the death of 60 Minutes, Colbert, and others will cry foul very, very loudly. Pointing out that it was "just a business decision" will be unlikely to assuage their fears of censorship.
 
Variety runs a piece that questions whether there’s enough of a staff left at 60 Minutes to start the new season this fall.

Quote:
Now the question is whether the show will have enough on-air correspondents and production staff willing to assign, report, write, fact-check and edit three in-depth documentary-style vignettes of 12 minutes to 13 minutes length to show football fans and news aficionados. (…)

“There’s not enough people,” says one person with knowledge of the inner workings of “60 Minutes.” This person says new episodes will provide tangible on-screen evidence of whether CBS News management was able to get production in gear. If “60 Minutes” offers an unusual number of “two parters,” or stories that take up two segments during the show, this person says, it’s a tell-tale sign there’s not enough content in the pipeline.
(end quote)

Link: CBS News Gutted ’60 Minutes’ On-Air Team. Can This Show Really Go On?
 


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