Morley Safer, 60 Minutes Anchor, Dead at 84

[From article]
Morley Safer, the CBS newsman who changed war reporting forever when he showed U.S. Marines burning the huts of Vietnamese villagers and went on to become the iconic 60 Minutes correspondent whose stylish stories on America's most-watched news program made him one of television's most enduring stars, died today in Manhattan. He was 84. He had homes in Manhattan and Chester, Conn.
Safer was in declining health when he announced his retirement last week; CBS News broadcast a long-planned special hour to honor the occasion on Sunday May 15 that he watched in his home.
A huge presence on 60 Minutes for 46 years -- Safer enjoyed the longest run anyone ever had on primetime network television. Though he cut back a decade ago, he still appeared regularly until recently, captivating audiences with his signature stories on art, science and culture. A dashing figure in his checked shirt, polka dot tie and pocket square, Morley Safer -- even his name had panache -- was in his true element playing pool with Jackie Gleason, delivering one of his elegant essays aboard the Orient Express or riffing on Anna Wintour, but he also asked the tough questions and did the big stories. In 2011, over 18.5 million people watched him ask Ruth Madoff how she could not have known her husband Bernard was running a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.
[. . .]
"Morley was one of the most important journalists in any medium, ever," said CBS Chairman and CEO, Leslie Moonves. "He broke ground in war reporting and made a name that will forever be synonymous with 60 Minutes. He was also a gentleman, a scholar, a great raconteur - all of those things and much more to generations of colleagues, his legion of friends, and his family, to whom all of us at CBS offer our sincerest condolences over the loss of one of CBS' and journalism's greatest treasures."
[. . .]
Safer was a familiar reporter to millions when he replaced Harry Reasoner on 60 Minutes in 1970. A much-honored foreign correspondent, Safer was the first U.S. network newsman to film a report inside Communist China. He appeared regularly on the CBS Evening News from all over the world, especially Vietnam, where his controversial reporting earned him peer praise and government condemnation.
[. . .]



Safer's piece from the Vietnamese hamlet of Cam Ne in August of 1965 showing U.S. Marines burning the villagers' thatched huts was cited by New York University as one of the 20th century's best pieces of American journalism. Some believe this report freed other journalists to stop censoring themselves and tell the raw truth about war. The controversial report on the "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" earned Safer a George Polk award and angered President Lyndon Johnson so much, he reportedly called CBS President Frank Stanton and said, "Your boys shat on the American flag yesterday." Some Marines are said to have threatened Safer, but others thanked him for exposing a cruel tactic. Safer said that the pentagon treated him with contempt for the rest of his life.
He spent three tours (1964-'66) as head of the CBS Saigon bureau. His helicopter was shot down in a 1965 battle, after which Safer continued to report under fire. In 1990, he penned a memoir of his Vietnam experience, "Flashbacks: On Returning to Vietnam" (Random House), in which he goes back to reminisce and to interview the enemy's veterans.
[. . .]
Then in August 1975, with a new Sunday evening timeslot, Safer put 60 Minutes on the national stage. Interviewing Betty Ford, the first lady shocked many Americans by saying she would think it normal if her 18-year-old daughter were having sex. The historic sit-down also included frank talk about pot and abortion.
[. . .]



It was another Safer story that would become one of the program's most honored and important. "Lenell Geter's in Jail," about a young black man serving life for armed robbery in Texas, overturned Geter's conviction 10 days after the December 1983 segment exposed a sloppy rush to injustice.
[. . .]
His conversational wit with his subjects was just as sharp as his written word. In a profile of the prim Martha Stewart, a smirking Safer passed her livestock pen and said to the domestic diva, "Your barnyard? It's remarkably odor-free."
[. . .]
CBS News hired the Canadian-born Safer in 1964 in London, where he was a correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He got the job in an odd turn of events. One of Safer's CBC colleagues seeking a job with CBS sent a demo tape of a roundtable he anchored that included Safer. CBS news executives liked Safer better and gave him a job in the London Bureau. The young correspondent took over his new job behind the desk once occupied by another CBS legend, the late Edward R. Murrow.
[. . .]
Safer was born Nov. 8, 1931 in Toronto and eventually became an American citizen, holding a dual citizenship. Telling MacLeans he felt "stateless," he believed this status was an advantage. "I bring a different perspective and I have no vested interests," he told the magazine in 1998.
Growing up, he was influenced by the writing of Ernest Hemingway and decided he would be a foreign correspondent. He attended the University of Western Ontario for only a few weeks when he dropped out to begin writing for newspapers.
[. . .]



Safer was asked to characterize his legacy as a journalist in a November 2000 interview with the American Archive of Television. "I have a pretty solid body of work that emphasized the words, emphasized ideas and the craft of writing for this medium. It's not literary, I wouldn't presume to suggest that. But I think you can elevate it a little bit sometimes with the most important part of the medium, which is what people are saying -- whether they're the people being interviewed or the guy who's telling the story. It's not literature, but it can be very classy journalism."
He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Jane, one daughter, Sarah Bakal, her husband, Alexander Bakal, three grandchildren, a sister, and brother, both of Toronto.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-morley-safer-dies-at-84/

60 Minutes' Morley Safer dies at 84
Longtime CBS newsman Morley Safer of "60 Minutes" and Vietnam War reporting fame dies at 84
2016 May 19

CBS Boston Liberal Journalist Worried More About Facebook Deceptions, Than White House National Security Fraud

Jon Keller, CBS News Boston, MA

Jon Keller is an opinion reporter on WBZ-TV (CBS News) in Boston, MA. He also is a regular on the local PBS television show Beat The Press hosted by Emily Rooney, daughter of CBS News famous journalist Andy Rooney.


Keller is at far left of this image

He appears to be indignant about deception. But only by individual civilians. Not a problem when the White House fools the people and journalists. Below is an email I sent to him on May 17, 2016. No reply as usual. He has never responded to my previous comments to his misguided criticism of his colleagues.


Ben Rhodes, White House National Security Adviser 

Saw your report on WBZ-TV news at about 5:20 PM on Tuesday May 17, 2016, regarding false Facebook posts which fool the public. I am curious why that gets priority over the reports that high ranking national security mogul Ben Rhodes, boasted of fooling American voters and taxpayers about the Iran nuclear deal. How he boasted of how stupid Americans are and how smart he and his colleagues are. Isn't that an abomination deserving of your access to air time? Or do you share the elitist attitude of the White House staff? Then there was similar boasting by Jonathan Gruber, about how stupid Americans are that the health care law was passed by his propaganda too.



Low information voters is nothing new. H.L. Mencken regularly ridiculed Americans for that 50-80 years ago. He was not a White House official. Does how one reacts to knowing that, measure the integrity of the individual?

See also Congressional hearing on May 17, 2016 before Government Oversight Committee on the deception of Rhodes. The Democrats on the committee argued that because some working for George Bush deceived Colin Powell about weapons of mass destruction, that makes it OK. Republicans and Democrats wonder why Trump is so popular.

[Entire hearing is about 2 hours and 45 minutes]

http://www.c-span.org/video/?409709-1/house-oversight-committee-examines-iran-nuclear-deal-messaging 

CBS News Study of Taxpayer Funded Back Surgeries

Uncounted are procedures by private insurers, and uninsured surgeries. Any idea how to estimate those figures? Noted is the potential for confusion, errors and miscellaneous errors in billing. Information is included of the benefits experienced by three patients. Four doctors are scrutinized. Of the 480,000 spinal fusions performed annually, it would be helpful for more extensive follow-up on a larger sample of patients. Are some lives better, some worse and some unchanged? On April 6, 2015 a number of news stories appeared about the Journal of the American Medical Association study about an increase in back surgeries.

[From article]
The attorney also objected to the use of billing codes to count spinal fusions for "degenerative" conditions that cause lower back pain. "It is simply not possible to discern the diagnosis(es) from the CPT code alone," she wrote.
It is true that the billing codes describe a technique - not a diagnosis. Some widely accepted fusions are billed for using these same codes. But while the data does not reveal whether any of the fusions that a doctor performed were inappropriate, experts say high numbers raise questions and serve as starting points for further investigation.
[. . .]
When we looked into Dr. Jimenez, we found that in 2006 he was suspended indefinitely by a network of five hospitals in Georgia. According to a confidential report obtained by CBS News, it concluded that he "pose[d] a threat to the life, health and safety of patients." There were concerns about, among other things, his "surgical competency and selection of procedures." Dr. Jimenez eventually left the hospital system and sued it for racial discrimination. He claimed the review committee made up lies to oust him and did not give him a hearing. The case was eventually dismissed.
[. . .]
Keith is now suing Dr. Alexander for allegedly aligning her neck crookedly and performing a more aggressive surgery than necessary. She has virtually no movement of her head, and it is stuck in a tilted position looking down and off to the right. Multiple doctors have said a corrective surgery would involve removing rods and screws that Dr. Alexander put in and entail significant risk. The case is ongoing.


Kimberly Keith's x-ray after surgery
Hilliard Munoz Gonzales LLP
[. . .]
Dr. Resnick added that Medicare, medical societies, and credentialing bodies (including state medical boards and the American Board of Medical Specialties) should use databases like the one in this story to follow practice patterns and patient outcomes. He said surgeons with the highest numbers should be closely looked at and asked to explain themselves. But he said that won't happen without a source of funding, as the work is time consuming and entails legal risk.
[. . .]
More than 480,000 spinal fusions are performed in U.S hospitals each year, making them more common than even hip replacements. The annual cost of these surgeries is more than $12 billion, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Experts disagree about how many may be unnecessary, but Dr. Richard Deyo, a critic of the procedure and professor at Oregon Health and Science University believes it could be as much as half. For Medicare and Medicaid patients, taxpayers foot the bill.


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tapping-into-controversial-back-surgeries/

By Ben Eisler
CBS News
April 24, 2014, 6:30 AM
Tapping into controversial back surgeries

Networks Cover Robert Durst Saga Of Murders

CBS 48 Hours report on Durst by Erin Moriarity is the best of the three. 

[From report]
"48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty has been reporting on the Robert Durst case for more than 10 years and speaks exclusively with the man who will be defending Durst in court, top criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin. "48 Hours has startling new information about the case that exploded into the news this week after Durst's arrest in New Orleans for the December 2000 murder of his friend Susan Berman, following a controversial documentary on HBO.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-presents-robert-durst-the-bizarre-saga/

"48 HOURS" PRESENTS: THE BIZARRE SAGA OF ROBERT DURST
2015Mar 21
CORRESPONDENT Erin Moriarty

* * *

PHOTO: AP

State District Judge Susan Criss makes a point while arguing with defense attorney Mike Ramsey during a bond hearing in New York millionaire Robert Durst's bond-jumping case Thursday, Dec. 18 , 2003 Galveston, Texas.[From report]
The Texas judge who presided over Robert Durst’s 2003 trial in the Morris Black murder case believes the alleged confession Durst gives in an audio recording on the HBO series “The Jinx” will be admitted in court.
“I believe that tape will be admissible,” Galveston County Judge Susan Criss told ABC News' “20/20.” “He wasn’t coerced.”

http://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-judge-robert-durst-2003-murder-trial-believes/story?id=29790187

Texas Judge in Robert Durst 2003 Murder Trial Believes 'Jinx' Recording Will Be Admitted in Court
Mar 20, 2015, 7:17 PM ET
By EDWARD LOPEZ, MEGHAN KENEALLY and LAUREN EFFRON
via 20/20

* * *

http://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/dennis-murphy-previews-robert-durst-inside-long-strange-trip-n326731

DATELINE

A look deeply into the baffling murder case of New York real estate heir Robert Durst and the evidence against him. Dateline chronicles the long journey to uncover the truth and speaks with key players involved in the case, including detectives, investigators and close friends of the victim.

Published March 19th 2015, 4:47 pm

Bob Simon, CBS News, 60 Minutes Host Dead In NYC Car Crash

Bob Simon poses on the roof of the CBS Broadcast Center in New York, in March 5, 1999.

Photo: AP

[From article]
The CBS reporter died when the Lincoln Town Car he was riding in crashed with a Mercedes and then lost control and plowed into a pedestrian expansion near 30th Street at about 7 p.m., according to sources.
Cops had to cut off the top of the Lincoln to free Simon and the driver, who, according to a law enforcement sources, was treated for a possible heart attack by EMTs.
The driver of the Mercedes said the livery driver was driving erratically.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/11/60-minutes-bob-simon-killed-in-car-crash/

60 Minutes’ Bob Simon killed in car crash
By Larry Celona and C.J. Sullivan
February 11, 2015 | 9:24pm

New York Post

CBS News Anchor Married Steve Kroft Exposed Having Hot Affair With Married Woman

Steve Kroft
Photo: FilmMagic
"Hi, I'm Steve Kroft." Too Hot For 60 Minutes?

[From article]
Another time, the 69-year-old newsman asked Goines, 41, “What exactly would be your preference,” the Enquirer reported.
“U all over and deep inside of me,” Goines responded.
[. . .]
“Working late. Just ordered out. Would rather be eating your pudding,” he allegedly wrote.
[. . .]
The newsman — who boasted to Goines that he was the “go-to’’ interviewer for President Obama — had some particularly unusual tastes in bed, the mag said. One time, he was “pouring champagne in her behind and drinking the bubbly,” the report claims.
[. . .]
Kroft and Goines, who is also married, consummated the affair a week after he first passed her his hotel key, the report said, when the soon-to-be lovers met at the $700-a-night Four Seasons hotel.
“Steve booked the room for two nights,” the source told the magazine. “The first night they had oral sex, and the second night, they went the whole way.”

http://pagesix.com/2015/01/07/60-minutes-host-steve-kroft-exposed-in-nasty-affair/?_ga=1.164982780.212440808.1402078759

‘60 Minutes’ host Steve Kroft exposed in nasty affair
By Leonard Greene
January 7, 2015 | 4:00am
New York Post, Page Six

Eric "White People Are Cowards" Holder's Justice Department Targeted, Censored Sharyl Attkisson

TARGETED: The Justice Department tried to rein in award-winning television journalist Sharyl Attkisson after she reported critically on the Fast and Furious gun scandal 

[From article]
Judicial Watch has slowly been prying Fast and Furious documents out of the desperate grip of the Obama administration. The Department of Justice has now produced around 40,000 pages of documents–a tiny amount–which Judicial Watch has posted on its web site. So far, the most explosive document to emerge is an email thread between Tracy Schmaler, who headed Eric Holder’s Office of Public Affairs, and White House Deputy Press Sectary Eric Schultz.
[. . .]
The context of the emails is concern about news reports that put Eric Holder at the center of the Fast and Furious scandal. In the first email, at 7:46, Schmaler says that there were no Fast and Furious stories from the NY Times, the Associated Press, Reuters, the Washington Post, NBC or Bloomberg. But there is one person out of step: Sharyl Attkisson. Schmaler writes:
I’m also calling Sharryl’s editor and reaching out to Schieffer. She’s out of control.
Which is highly revealing: the Obama administration expects reporters to be under control. As, of course, they generally are, like the Times, the Post, AP, etc. Schultz replies:
Good. Her piece was really bad for AG.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/11/bombshell-attorney-general-targeted-attkisson.php

BOMBSHELL: ATTORNEY GENERAL TARGETED ATTKISSON [UPDATED]

Posted on November 20, 2014
by John Hinderaker

* * *


FIGHTING BACK: Attkisson spills the beans in a new book about how the government impedes the work of reporters

[From article]
The Department of Justice's top communications official plotted to squash a reporter who aggressively covered the agency's ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious gun scandal in 2011, previously secret emails show.
The emails, between the DOJ's then-communications chief Tracy Schmaler and White House press flack Eric Schultz, are a rare look inside the Obama administration's press control machine.
They were released Thursday while the nation was preoccupied with President Barack Obama's immigration policy announcement, as the result of a long-languishing Freedom Of Information Act lawsuit filed by the center-right watchdog group Judicial Watch.
In one message, Schmaler told Schultz that CBS journalist Sharyl Attkisson needed to be reined in, writing that she was 'calling Sharryl's [sic] editor and reaching out to Scheiffer. She's out of control.'
[. . .]
Attkisson, who left CBS a year ago over concerns that the network was reflexively killing stories that were critical of the administration, told MailOnline that the federal government's backroom plotting was in line with what she experienced previously.
'This is just the tip of the iceberg. ... Now people have a black and white email from the perpetrators to see for themselves what I've long known,' she said.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2844524/Emails-Obama-administration-targeted-reporter-coverage-Operation-Fast-Furious-scandal.html


Emails show Obama administration targeted reporter over her coverage of 'Operation Fast and Furious' scandal
Journalist Sharyl Attkisson was an attack dog while at CBS, following the 'Fast and Furious' gun scandal that dogged the Justice Department
Email released as part of a Freedom Of Information Act lawsuit shows DOJ communications chief saying she would pressure network higher-ups to rein her in
'She's out of control,' wrote then-Justice flack Tracy Schmaler, accusing her of lodging 'a bulls**t accusation' about the gun-'walking' operation
Email conversation was with White House strategist Eric Schultz, who was later promoted to the job of principal deputy press secretary
By David Martosko, US Political Editor for MailOnline
Published: 14:13 EST, 21 November 2014 | Updated: 15:45 EST, 21 November 2014

Sharyl Attkisson's Computer Hacked By Government Spooks

[From article]
Former CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson alleges in her new book, "Stonewalled," that both her personal and work computers were hacked over a lengthy period of time by someone in the government.

http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/11/03/sharyl-attkisson-hacking-software-was-fbi-cia-dia-or-nsa

Attkisson: Hacking Software Was from FBI, CIA, DIA or NSA
November 3, 2014 9:05 PM
As seen on The O'Reilly Factor
by Fox News Insider

CBS 60 Minutes Correspondent Lara Logan Quarantined After Liberia Ebola Report

[From article]
NEW YORK (AP) - Lara Logan of CBS News is being quarantined in a South Africa hotel for three weeks as a precaution after visiting an American-run hospital treating Ebola patients in Liberia for a "60 Minutes" report that aired Sunday.
CBS said Monday that Logan's 21-day self-quarantine will end this Friday. Neither Logan nor the four other CBS employees in South Africa have shown any sign that they are infected with the virus.
Logan, speaking in a "60 Minutes Overtime" web interview from the room where the CBS crew put its report together, admitted to some cabin fever as she waits out her stay. She said the South African government had given the crew permission to work at the hotel.

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/27345187/cbs-logan-quarantined-after-ebola-report

CBS' Logan quarantined after Ebola report
By DAVID BAUDER
AP Television Writer

Obama The Candidate Lied, Journalists Covered For Him

[From article]
Obama’s campaign promise to establish the “most transparent and accountable administration in history.” Improbably, five years into his presidency, Obama was still claiming, “This is the most transparent administration in history.”
By this time, CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson knew all too well just how preposterous a lie this was. As she documents in her stunning new book, Stonewalled, there has never been a more deceptive administration, nor one more dedicated to destroying those who tell the truth. In the words of David Sanger, the veteran chief Washington correspondent of the New York Times, “This is the most closed, control freak administration I’ve ever covered.”
[. . .]
The most chilling part of Attkisson’s story details how some “sophisticated entity” managed to infiltrate her computers using a spyware proprietary to a government agency such as the CIA or NSA.
[. . .]
The most damning part details how CBS management collaborated with the Obama administration to silence Attkisson and re-elect Obama.
[. . .] Five days later, on October 24, CBS executives insisted Attkisson insert the “not simply mob violence” line into a report she was doing, again implying that Obama called Benghazi a terrorist attack on September 12.
Only after that report did Attkisson get to see the complete transcript of the Kroft interview. She was horrified by what the editors had done. She protested that this editing was “extremely unethical and dishonest.” Obama’s “no act of terror” remark came towards the end of the Rose garden speech and encompassed 9-11 and terrorists act in general. It had nothing to do with Benghazi. He had told Kroft as much. Romney had been right all along.
CBS did not want to hear this, especially CBS News president, David Rhodes. His brother Ben, the deputy national
http://americanthinker.com/articles/2014/11/sharyl_attkisson_and_the_transparency_lie.html

November 11, 2014
Sharyl Attkisson and the Transparency Lie
By Jack Cashill

Sharyl Attkisson Interviewed On CBS Radio

[From interview]

SA: It’s sort of a long story, but I guess the short version is there was really nothing meaningful left for me to do. I consider my specialty to be original investigative reporting which was long valued at CBS News. But I the past couple of years for me and other reporters in the media it’s been a very hard sell.
[. . .]

SA: I think there’s a complex set of factors including maybe one of the biggest factors — the industry that has been set up in Washington, DC around a well-financed campaign involving public relations by special interests, political interests, corporate interests who have learned how to scare us off from meaningful stories. By pushback before the stories air, partnering with surrogates and bloggers, and making social media astroturf efforts afterwards, and just making it so difficult and uncomfortable afterwards that really we’d just rather avoid those kinds of stories.

http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/11/08/sharyl-attkisson-joins-kmoxs-mark-reardon-to-discuss-controversial-new-book/

Sharyl Attkisson Joins KMOX’s Mark Reardon To Discuss Controversial New Book
November 8, 2014 7:07 AM
CBS News St. Louis MO

Updated: Sharyl Attkisson Exposes CBS News Censorship, Political Advocacy, Book Review

Posted October 25, 2014 7:39 PM ET; Last updated October 27, 2014 12:51 AM ET



[From article]
Attkisson was instrumental in breaking the "Fast and Furious" gun-walking scandal and she also uncovered all sorts of official dissembling about Benghazi.
http://reason.com/blog/2014/10/26/sharryl-attkissons-stonewalled-how-the-m

Sharryl Attkisson's Stonewalled: How the Media Protects Obama
Nick Gillespie

Oct. 26, 2014 9:00 am

Published on May 3, 2014

"If we knew everything then that we know now, one week after it happened, I think that would have been really devastating to [Obama's reelection] campaign," says former CBS reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, referencing the 2012 Benghazi terrorists attacks. Recently revealed White House emails suggest that the Obama administration may have attempted to mislead the American public by placing the blame on an Internet video and not Islamic terrorists, which would have raised questions about Obama's foreign policy strategy.
Attkisson, an award winning investigative reporter, was one of the few journalists who continued pursuing the Benghazi story long after many in the main stream media lost interest. According to Attkisson, her bosses at CBS wanted her to drop the story. As a result, she left CBS, her employer for two decades, this past March over what she claims is "liberal bias" at the network and a lack of serious devotion to investigative reporting.
She goes on to say that many in her field are frustrated by the decline of hard-hitting investigative reporting endemic at all networks and not just CBS. The congealing of corporate, news, and political interests at networks have made investigative journalism a relic of the past.
"As one whistleblower put it to me: things have never been worse for people who try to speak the truth inside the government about illegalities and wrong doing. In their view, and I tend to agree, every administration is more clamped down and closed than the one before it. And the next one starts at the finishing point. It's very hard to make it go backwards. There are rules being implemented now against journalists and the type of work that we do that I think will be very hard to unwind."
Attkisson sat down with Reason TV's Nick Gillespie to discuss her reporting on Benghazi, Fast and Furious, and the decline of investigative journalism in America.
About 20 minutes.
Camera by Todd Krainin and Joshua Swain. Edited by Amanda Winkler.

* * *

[From article]
Sharyl Attkisson is an unreasonable woman. Important people have told her so.
When the longtime CBS reporter asked for details about reinforcements sent to the Benghazi compound during the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack, White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor replied, “I give up, Sharyl . . . I’ll work with more reasonable folks that follow up, I guess.”
Another White House flack, Eric Schultz, didn’t like being pressed for answers about the Fast and Furious scandal in which American agents directed guns into the arms of Mexican drug lords. “Goddammit, Sharyl!” he screamed at her. “The Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, The New York Times is reasonable. You’re the only one who’s not reasonable!”
[. . .]
In nearly 20 years at CBS News, she has done many stories attacking Republicans and corporate America, and she points out that TV news, being reluctant to offend its advertisers, has become more and more skittish about, for instance, stories questioning pharmaceutical companies or car manufacturers.
Working on a piece that raised questions about the American Red Cross disaster response, she says a boss told her, “We must do nothing to upset our corporate partners . . . until the stock splits.” (Parent company Viacom and CBS split in 2006).
[. . .]
When the White House didn’t like her reporting, it would make clear where the real power lay. A flack would send a blistering e-mail to her boss, David Rhodes, CBS News’ president — and Rhodes’s brother Ben, a top national security advisor to President Obama.
The administration, with the full cooperation of the media, has successfully turned “Benghazi” into a word associated with nutters, like “Roswell” or “grassy knoll,” but Attkisson notes that “the truth is that most of the damaging information came from Obama administration insiders. From government documents. From sources who were outraged by their own government’s behavior and what they viewed as a coverup.”
[. . .]
One angry CBS exec called to tell Attkisson that Ingraham is “extremely, extremely far right” and that Attkisson shouldn’t appear on her show anymore. Attkisson was puzzled, noting that CBS reporters aren’t barred from appearing on lefty MSNBC shows.
[. . .]
In the book she cites the complete loss of interest in investigative stories at “CBS Evening News” under new host Scott Pelley and new executive producer Shevlin.
[. . .]
“If I offered a story on pretty much any legitimate controversy involving government, instead of being considered a good journalistic watchdog, I was anti-Obama.”
[. . .]
After reading the book, you won’t question whether CBS News or Attkisson is more trustworthy.

http://nypost.com/2014/10/25/former-cbs-reporter-explains-how-the-liberal-media-protects-obama/

Ex-CBS reporter reveals how the liberal media protects Obama
By Kyle Smith
New York Post
October 25, 2014 | 5:12pm

Three TV Networks Fear Using Word "Terrorist"

[From article]
The Big Three networks steered clear of labeling the Islamist group ISIS "terrorists" on their evening newscasts on Friday. Instead, ABC's World News and CBS Evening News labeled the genocidal radicals "militants." NBC Nightly News used the more benign "rebels" in their coverage of the group's latest attacks on the Kurdish part of Iraq
[. . .]
On Thursday, the MRC's Dan Gainor pointed out that the Big Three networks have followed a similar pattern with regard to the Islamic extremist group Hamas: "ABC, CBS and NBC journalists referred to Hamas as 'militants,' 'fighters' or 'soldiers' 13 times more often than they called them 'terrorists.' (65 stories to 5 stories.)"

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2014/08/09/big-three-networks-avoid-calling-isis-terrorists-label-them-rebels-an

Big Three Networks Avoid Calling ISIS 'Terrorists;' Label Them 'Rebels' and 'Militants'
By Matthew Balan

August 9, 2014 | 00:30

Brother of CBS News President Suspect in Misleading Benghazi Memo

U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC)

[From article]
Republican South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy, chairman of the Benghazi Select Committee, said this week that no witnesses are off limits in his committee’s investigation into the Benghazi cover-up. So who will he subpoena? Here’s a suggestion: How about Ben Rhodes.

Ben Rhodes, the 37-year old little brother of CBS News president David Rhodes, is a national security adviser to President Obama. He also happens to be an Upper East Side literary type who took a Master’s in Fiction from NYU. Real serious artist. Rhodes was the one who edited the White House’s Benghazi talking points to focus the blame on spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video, rather than an al-Qaeda attack.

http://dailycaller.com/2014/08/03/the-ben-rhodes-story-how-a-hack-writer-crafted-the-benghazi-talking-points-of-a-lifetime/

The Ben Rhodes Story: How A
Hack Writer Crafted the Benghazi Talking Points of a Lifetime
4:27 PM 08/03/2014
Patrick Howley

Sharyl Attkinsson Interviewed On C-Span

[From article]
Attkisson, who recently joined the Heritage Foundation's Daily Signal website as a senior independent contributor, explained that between an opaque Obama administration and timid "powers that be" in corporate liberal media outlets, journalists like her interested in doggedly pursuing the truth have a rougher go at things than before.
[. . .]
The CBS alum cited political and financial connections between corporations and networks as the cause for the decline in investigative reporting.
[. . .]
The CBS alumna has requested information repeatedly via Freedom of Information requests but has found herself waiting years that by the time she does receive anything it’s either had information redacted or no longer newsworthy. Often times the information is withheld and the only way to get the full story would be to file a lawsuit.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jackie-seal/2014/06/23/sharyl-attkisson-brian-lamb-reporters-face-push-back-powers-be#ixzz35WPU56fg

Sharyl Attkisson on C-SPAN: Team Obama 'Has Perfected The Stall, The Delay, The Redaction, The Excuses'
By Jackie Seal
June 23, 2014 | 16:44

Full one hour video here

http://www.c-span.org/video/?319889-1/qa-sharyl-attkisson

Lara Logan, Bold, Beautiful, Risk Taker

Lara Logan


[From article]
She began an affair with Michael Ware, a swashbuckling correspondent for Time and CNN known for his emotional reportage from the streets of Baghdad.
By late 2007, Logan had another boyfriend in the wings: Joe Burkett, a government contractor in Baghdad who, Gawker uncovered, had worked for a firm called the Lincoln Group. Burkett was a former Texas Army National Guard member whose company did public relations for the military, courting reporters and trying to inject positive war stories into the media. Logan had met and dated Burkett once before in Afghanistan, but it became more serious when they reconnected in Iraq. He began paying regular visits to the CBS compound.
Nobody was as surprised by this turn of events as Ware. After a few drinks one night, Ware entered the CBS compound, walked up to her quarters on the second floor, and discovered Logan and Burkett in flagrante delicto. A loud fight ensued.
[. . .]
With tensions high, Logan blamed Pilgrims for letting Ware enter her quarters when its people knew she was with Burkett.
[. . .]
“Jeff [Fager] believes in popular TV,” says a colleague. “The part of the business that involves reporting scary stories, on which you have to spend time and resources on investigations and fact-checking and sources—all of that annoys the hell out of him.”
[. . .]
“Fager has gotten rid of any structural oversight,” says a former 60 Minutes producer. “He doesn’t like people challenging him. There’s nobody to go to if you have a problem.”

http://nymag.com/news/features/lara-logan-cbs-news-2014-5/

Benghazi and the Bombshell
Is Lara Logan too toxic to return to 60 Minutes?
By Joe Hagan

Published May 4, 2014

Hate Speech Of The Day, January 7, 2014

[All of these charming expressions were posted on CBS Boston replying to my comments]

Hate Speech of he Day Jan 7, 2014

Yadda yadda, blow me a*****e.

barnyard1

5:49 p.m., Tuesday Jan. 7

* * *

barnyard1

You can't argue with a fool or drunk, which category do you fall into? Oh, You are to stupid to decide so I shall oblige your sorry azz. Lawyers are one reason this country has litigated itself down the toilet. Have a bad day & f** you & your f**** family.

12:42 p.m., Tuesday Jan. 7

* * *

barnyard1

Is your daddy a f**** scumbag lawyer or do you watch to many late night infomercials?

10:34 a.m., Tuesday Jan. 7

CBS Journalist at 60 Minutes Misled By Source, Used For Broadcast

[From article]
The report also said Logan should not have done the story in the first place after making a speech in Chicago a year ago claiming that it was a lie that America's military had tamed al Qaeda.
[. . .]
'The most important thing to every person at 60 Minutes is the truth, and today the truth is we made a mistake. That's very disappointing for any journalist, that's very disappointing for me.
‘Nobody likes to admit that they made a mistake, but if you do, you have to stand up and take responsibility and you have to say that you were wrong and in this case we were wrong.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2514060/Lara-Logan-producer-suspended-false-60-Minutes-report-Benghazi.html

Lara Logan and her producer 'suspended' over false 60 Minutes report on Benghazi after she was forced to make humiliating on-air apology for 'disappointing mistakes'
60 Minutes aired an interview with a security contractor who claimed to rush over to the American consulate after the attack began in 2012
After the interview with Dylan Davies aired, CBS learned that Davies told the FBI a different version of events
Logan apologized for being 'misled' less than a week after the segment aired on October 27 but today CBS announced her leave of absence
By MEGHAN KENEALLY and ASSOCIATED PRESS
Daily Mail (UK)
PUBLISHED: 15:51 EST, 26 November 2013 | UPDATED: 18:37 EST, 26 November 2013

Miami Police Didn't Believe Kidnapping Victim; Resulting in Two More Deaths

Marc Schiller

This story was presented on CBS News television show 48 Hours on Saturday April 27, 2013.  ABC News 20/20 broadcast their own investigation previously, about this "grotesque" (word used by prosecutor Gail Levine) series of crimes. 

Marcelo "Marc" Schiller was an emigrant from Argentina living in Miami, Florida. He was a successful  accountant, but became greedy and began a Medicaid fraud business. He fired one of his employees, who joined up with a criminal gang of muscle enthusiasts at a local gym. They decided to kidnap Schiller, steal his money and kill him. They tortured him for about 40 days and tried to kill him. They failed. He survived, but did not go to police fearing prosecution for his fraudulent business. The awful part of this story is that when he did go to the police they did not believe him. [It is a problem I've had for more than 30 years of criminal abuses by crime families and Communists. Louis Zamperini, the subject of Lauren Hillenbrand's book, Unbroken, had the same reaction from his own father. He was tortured daily for 3 years after being captured by the Japanese during World War II, because he was a celebrity. When he got home neither his father nor the VA psychiatrist believed what he had survived.] When Schiller was recovering in the hospital coming out of a coma from his injuries, he told the nurses  that he was kidnapped. They told him, "No. You were in a car accident driving drunk." That was set up by the killers to cover up their crime. He gave up trying to convince the nurses.  


http://www.painandgainbook.com/

Pain and Gain
Marc Schiller
Star of Hope Inc.
2013

http://www.pieceofcakepr.com/new-book-by-real-sun-gym-gang-victim-marc-schiller-exposes-true-story-behind-the-paramount-film-pain-and-gain/


NEW BOOK BY REAL SUN GYM GANG VICTIM, MARC SCHILLER, EXPOSES TRUE STORY BEHIND THE PARAMOUNT FILM ‘PAIN AND GAIN’.
Told as a gripping memoir, Marc Schiller chronicles his month-long captivity that many will soon witness on the big screen in Paramount’s ‘Pain and Gain’ movie. Telling his untold true story for the first time, readers are urged to buckle up for a journey of adrenaline, a struggle to survive and a shocking ending.

CBS Newsman Beaten in Oakland CA, Cameras Stolen

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/11/08/cbs-5-cameraman-beaten-robbed-after-oakland-live-shot/

CBS 5 Cameraman Beaten, Robbed After Oakland Live Shot
November 8, 2012 12:35 PM
CBS News San Francisco CA