Can CBS Be Reborn with New Owners?
When I was literally a little boy in short pants, my father took me to a CBS Radio studio in New York. He was a Director in the final days of radio soap operas, and he wanted me to see for myself how those amazing shows were produced live. Although he had shows on both NBC and CBS, he wanted me to see CBS because, in his own words, CBS was the “best” network.
Less than twenty years later, I joined CBS, solid in my own conviction that CBS was indeed the best company in broadcasting, especially in the area of news. It was the home of Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid, Peabody Award winners all. The Peabody Awards are the highest honor for radio and television journalism. In my seven years with CBS Radio, it led the broadcast industry in developing the newsradio format.
CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite was known as “the most trusted man in America.” CBS was known as the “Tiffany Network,” and its crown jewel was its News Division. CBS had the highest TV ratings, the best Sports Division with the likes of Jack Whitaker and Pat Summerall, and even the most impressive building, Black Rock, designed by Eero Saarinen. But above it all was the preeminence of its News Division. I was immensely proud of CBS.
How that jewel has become tarnished in the years since! The scandal of Dan Rather’s uncritical use of forged documents besmirching George W. Bush’s military record and the more recent scandal of 60 Minutes manipulating Kamala Harris’ interview responses to make her sound and look less incoherent than she really was, are just two examples of how badly CBS lost its journalistic integrity.
But now that CBS has been sold to new owners, it has a new opportunity to regain its position of honor. It can wipe its slate clean and start over by recapturing the principles of honest journalism, principles that virtually all its competitors have wantonly abandoned. ABC, NBC, MSNBC and CBS all openly embrace the political and cultural agenda of the Left, while Fox News does much the same on the Right. CNN had a chance to find the middle among cable news outlets, but decided instead to capitulate to the liberals in their management and create a slightly diluted version of MSNBC’s leftist bias.
The website AllSides.com has developed a very useful Media Bias Meter with 5 categories – Left, Leans left, Center, Leans Right and Right. It’s quite a good effort. It covers major print, cable and broadcast outlets. CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and NPR are all in the Leans Left category. MSNBC, of course, is in the full Left category. Fox News, Newsmax, OAN and CBN are all on the Right. But of particular interest to me is the fact that the category with the fewest entries is Center! There is not a single broadcast or cable news provider in the Center. Not one! Nor is there one in Leans Right. Honest and unbiased news is a category virtually begging for attention, and if CBS were to make that its strategic goal, they’d be on their way back to respectability, unchallenged.
News Fatigue, Outrage Fatigue, or Negativity Fatigue all refer to the state of being mentally and physically drained due to prolonged exposure to negative news and emotions. CBS was once the home of Andy Rooney and Charles Kuralt. If CBS were to bring back honest, fact-based, inspiring coverage of true stories in that vein, they’d have an audience all to themselves. Mike Rowe’s success in television streaming and podcasting demonstrates that the appetite for uplifting and honest stories of real people is huge. I am convinced that the same goes for real news.
CBS, if you’re listening, open that big eye that is your logo and see the opportunity that lies before you with your new ownership. If you return to the principles of genuine journalism, you’ll be alone and again held in high honor. What a great new opportunity for a once-great company! But I won’t be standing on one leg waiting for them to seize it.
(Colin Hanna is CEO of Let Freedom Ring, USA)
