A Biased Bruise or a Truthful Trauma?

Bias and truth are in the eye of the beholder. Just ask Michele Bachmann.

According to an article by The Huffington Post, Bachmann's campaign team can prove CBS bias against the presidential hopeful. An email from a CBS employee was mistakenly sent to a member of her campaign team.

CBS pointed to Bachmann's low 4% in response to Bachmann's campaign team's accusations of bias. If a candidate is sitting at 4%, a debate moderator wouldn't need to ask the candidate many questions.

This follows the role of agenda setting. Americans haven't made Bachmann a priority, so the media has no reason to report on her.

What the campaign team calls 'bias' is 'truth'. They can't contest the 4% from CBS's cited poll, so the team calls any negative news 'biased'. What is their truth?

Photo by Gage Skidmore

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Andy Rooney Dead at Age 92

The famous 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney died Friday night at the age of 92 in a hospital in New York City.

He died of complications from minor surgery which was undisclosed.

"It's a sad day at '60 Minutes' and for everybody here at CBS News," said Jeff Fager, executive producer of "60 Minutes"and the chairman of CBS News.

Rooney had announced on Oct. 2, 2011 on "60 Minutes" that he wouldn't be appearing regularly anymore on the show.

Ever since television has been around, Rooney had been involved in it. For 60 years he was with CBS. 30 of those years he was a writer and producer for the show.

Rooney said he was never comfortable with being the television personality that he became. and according to an article on CBS.com, "He preferred to be known as a writer and was the author of best-selling books and a national newspaper column, in addition to his '60 Minutes' essays."

Rooney was known for his essays in which he delivered at the end of every "60 Minutes" episode.
These essays would generate thousands of responses from viewers or the show.

The topics these essays were about were very controversial. One particular comment about homosexuality led to getting him suspended from his job on "60 Minutes". But his loyal fans demanded him to be back on air and ratings dropped 20% when he wasn't.

“I’ve done a lot of complaining here, but of all the things I’ve complained about, I can’t complain about my life.” Rooney once said. And he considered himself lucky to have lived such a life and if he were to live life over again, he said he would live it exactly the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkZ4yKHwrsc

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The Babysitter's Club

If a picture is worth 1000 words, then an interview is worth an afternoon babysitting two teens.

According to an article from The Huffington Post, major news outlets are jockeying for the first interview with Amanda Knox with offers of babysitting Knox's two half sisters.

ABC, NBC, and CBS have all been questioned as whether they offered to look after the two girls during the trial.

While ABC's spokesperson replied with no comment, and NBC's and CBS's spokespeople denied the claims, Knox's father, Curt Knox, responded with a letter to the New York Post regarding the babysitting allegations. He stated in his letter that ABC and CBS provided rooms for his girls to stay in during the trial, and an NBC producer offered a room; however, he went on to state that no producer babysat his daughters.

These allegations, whether they are unfounded or not, pose a serious ethical dilemma to journalists every where. Quotes bring a human element into a story that news reporters can't do on their own.

Amanda Knox and other high-profile celebrities are people who readers want to hear from. Thus, due to Knox's interviewee status, her popularity can demand a price for her story.

Paying for an interview is unethical. If an interviewee doesn't want to tell his/her story without compensation, then it is up to journalists to compile a story using every other source at their disposal.

Although, the story may not feel as complete without Amanda Knox's quote but purchasing an interview is unethical to me. I believe that my credibility is worth more than a slumber party-sized pillow fight between babysitters in order to capitalize on Knox's passing 15 minutes of fame.

Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericskiff/3415034468/

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Lara Logan Assulted in Egypt

Lara Logan, a journalist for CBS News, was recovering in an American hospital this week after being sexually assaulted and beaten in Egypt's Tahrir Square by a mob last Friday.

On the day Hosni Mubarak stepped down Logan was working on a "60 Minutes" story surveying the reaction of anti-Mubarak protesters when her crew was suddenly surrounded by a dangerous group of protesters.

Logan was pulled away from her co-workers and brutally attacked until a group of women and Egyptian solders pulled her from the furious mob.

Logan was accused of being an Israeli spy and told to leave Egypt earlier this month. After being detained she went back to the U.S.

Shortly after her return to the U.S. she went back to Cairo before Mubarak fled his office.

Logan has made her name as a war reporter for Britain's GMTV in 2001 at the beginning of the Afghanistan war. Later she reported on the war in Iraq. In 2002 Logan joined CBS News.

There are at leased 140 injured or killed reporters while covering the Egypt protests since Jan. 30 according to the committee to Protect Foreign Journalists.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

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CBS Turns Down Tiger

CBS was recently one of the three media outlets chosen to conduct a five minute interview with Tiger Woods.

To viewers, this may seem like an honor. To CBS? Not so much.

CBS has chosen to turn down the interview.

The reason CBS refused has nothing to do with the fact that the maximum time allotted for the interview is a mere five minutes. Or even that by the time the interview airs, viewers would already have had a chance to see his other interviews on every local news and sports report.

Though Woods is declaring several topics of conversation too personal for the interview, even that is not the reason CBS won't commit.

CBS simply did not see any value in an interview with Woods.

CBS is responsible for broadcasting the Masters -- the tournament Woods has chosen to make his season debut. Should he make it to the final rounds of the Masters, Woods would be getting more than enough coverage to keep viewers satisfied.

A five minute interview before the Masters over topics decided solely by Woods himself, would not be beneficial to its viewers, according to Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports.

CBS is set in their decision not to interview Woods. They may, however, be singing a different tune, should Tiger Woods win his fifth Green Jacket next month at the Masters.

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NORML Fights For CBS 's Billboard

The CBS Corporation has made their voice about not legalizing the use of marijuana loud and clear.

They recently denied NORML, the National Organization of Marijuana Laws, a spot on their digital billboard in New York City's Time Square.

The fifteen-second ad would argue that taxing and regulating the adult use and sale of marijuana would raise billions of dollars in national revenue. It was supposed to appear on Monday, February 1, 2010, but CBS, along with Neutron Media rejected the paid advertisement.

Representatives from Neutron Media had contacted NORML in January. The ad was supposed to air 18 times a day for two months. The NORML Foundation got a contractual agreement with Neutron Media to air two separate NORML advertisements, and made an initial ad exclusively for the CBS digital billboard. This advertisement was predicted to be seen by over 1.5 million people a day.

Not surprisingly, NORML was more than unhappy and set up a petition on their site to demand CBS to change their bias ruling.

To watch the ad, click here.

To sign the NORMAL petition, click here. So far there are 1,803 signatures. Their goal is 2,500.

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The Lack of Pepsi

Watching the commercials during the Super Bowl has become near a tradition since it became a media blitz to sell products. While watching this year it may have become apparent that there was no Pepsi Commercial. This broke a 23 year streak of Pepsi having a commercial during the Super Bowl and it was snapped due to Pepsi's interest in social media.

The Super Bowl was broadcast by CBS this year and they wanted $3 million dollars for a 30-second commercial. Instead of investing in this as Pepsi traditionally has they have decided to pour their advertising dollars into social media. This movement into social media is what Pepsi is calling the Pepsi Refresh Project.

The point of the Pepsi Refresh Project is for Pepsi to become more involved with its customers. "The project is about creating a movement, not just a moment." said Bonin Bough, Pepsi's global director of digital and social media. Pepsi is donating $1 million dollars in February and is committed to $20 million dollars overall to social causes and community projects.

Pepsi is not the only big company getting into the social media craze. Budweiser let its customers vote on its Facebook site which commercials they wanted to see and Monster.com's Facebook page had videos on it of the fiddling beaver from its Super Bowl commercials.

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