Remaining CBS Journalists Pen Letter To David Ellison Politely Asking Him To Stop Destroying What’s Left Of Journalism
from the pretty-please dept
By now it’s pretty clear that right wing, billionaire, Trump ally Larry Ellison bought CBS to convert what was left of the news division into lazy agitprop that blows smoke up the ass of wealth and power. Leading the charge is CBS News boss Bari Weiss, an unqualified contrarian Substack troll who recently vividly demonstrated her purpose by killing a story critical of the administration’s concentration camps.
If you’re one of the few journalists left at CBS (who didn’t leave after the network’s embarrassing effort to bribe the president), this is obvious not a good time. Pre-holiday, a collection of CBS journalists got together to pen a letter to Larry Ellison and his nepobaby son David, urging them to reconsider their plan to turn CBS News into a right wing propaganda mill:
“In the public letter, which is addressed directly to Ellison, the signatories declare that they “stand in solidarity” with the 60 Minutes team that worked on “Inside CECOT,” the story that was pulled by Weiss shortly before it was set to air on December 21. They also note that this signaled a “breakdown in editorial oversight” and risked “setting a dangerous precedent in a country that traditionally valued press freedom.”
Ellison, of course, won’t balk. Much like Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, the Ellisons bought CBS (and a part of TikTok) with the goal of information control. The goal is the same goal billionaires have had for generations: dominate mass media, soften its criticism of wealth and power, and befuddle, distract, confuse, and disorient an already pretty fucking dim electorate.
They’re not going to back off that agenda because you said “pretty please.”
It’s worth reiterating that CBS already wasn’t in great shape to begin with. Even before Ellison, the network’s very first response to rising U.S. authoritarianism was to hire more Trump-friendly Republicans. And if you haven’t read it already, this piece by longtime journalist Spencer Ackerman demonstrates how the network already had a very rich history of coddling U.S. wealth and power.
It’s further demonstration that commercial mass media and public interest journalism are generally incompatible. There’s a reason that authoritarians like Donald Trump and Brendan Carr are ramping up attacks on public broadcasting, paving the way for greater media consolidation, and trying to censor late-night comedians, and it’s because they’re afraid of the truth.
This is, as you might be noticing, a lot harder than billionaires tend to think. It’s very likely that the Ellison effort to dominate media simply drives people away from CBS and toward more ethical, interesting alternatives. There’s really no indication that this weird assortment of nepobabies and contrarian trolls have any idea what they’re doing. They’re not even good at agitprop.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. If successful, Ellison could still turn CBS, TikTok, and potentially CNN into an even worse version of Fox News, which is arguably the last thing American media needs.
Ethical folks who care about an informed electorate should fund trustworthy independent and worker-owned media (like Techdirt) whenever possible in the new year.
Filed Under: bari weiss, cbs news, censorship, consolidation, david ellison, disinformation, journalism, larry ellison, media, propaganda
Companies: cbs, paramount
Comments on “Remaining CBS Journalists Pen Letter To David Ellison Politely Asking Him To Stop Destroying What’s Left Of Journalism”
I’m sure he’ll get right on that.
What he’s doing isn’t an all out attempt to create a new propaganda outlet, the days when broadcast media can shift opinions are coming to a close, what he is doing with this, and his attempt to buy CNN, is removing one more voice speaking out against the descent into fascism, one less place for people doing actual journalism can get paid.
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The audience for an open letter isn’t really the person it’s addressed to.
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In this case, it appears to be:
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Nvm, I misread.
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And who’s going to do anything to stop him? Congress? The supreme court?
Let them eat Cake. the rich ones anyway.
As long as they dont NEED real news Great.
On with the revolution.
Ok, where do I park this Duck.
Note that the leaked 15 minutes segment of the 60 minutes doc is available at https://archive.org/details/60-minutes-cecot-segment_202512
Sure, if you really want to make Weiss, Ellison and Trump sad, you can share it through bittorrent and allow people to make their own mind about it.
Another one falls
Another well known mainstream newsroom in the US has fallen and has become nothing more than a mill for propaganda. Make the average people more boneheaded by controlling the narrative and information, they’ll believe anything spewed out. The ones that stay informed and get their news from other well regarded and verified sources, they’ll end up targeted for speaking the truth.
Objecting to the nazis in the bar only really works when they don't own it
Painful as it may be for them to deal with the sooner they realize and accept that with the change in management they’re working in the metaphorical nazi bar the better their odds of maintaining any credibility as journalists is going to be by leaving.
While a public message like this may leave them feeling good for a short time that they made their feelings on CBS being turned full-blown propaganda mill clear if they want to do any journalism going forward they’re going to have to find a new job elsewhere to do it.
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Yeah, I’ve got some bad news about that, too.
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Oh I agree it’s not at all going to be easy, but compared to the alternative of having their reputation permanently turned into one of many US Baghdad Bob clones it’s likely to be better for them long-term, and even if they consider a tainted reputation like that an acceptable price they’ll still be sticking their necks out for a party that has no compunction against turning on it’s own, leaving them ever wondering when it’ll be their turn as they desperately try to prove how ‘loyal’ they are through increasingly insane loyalty ‘tests’.
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I don’t know about that. I think it’s quite possible to have a reputation as a good reporter at a bad outlet. Chris Wallace and Shep Smith when they were at Fox, for example. Ta-Nehisi Coates when he was at the Atlantic. Jamelle Bouie at the New York Times.
I suspect there are still some good journalists at the Washington Post, but I must admit I can’t name any off the top of my head.
I still think you’re right that they’re better off going elsewhere (starting their own news org if necessary). But I don’t think everybody at 60 Minutes will suffer reputational harm even if the show itself does.
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It’s probably not ideal for their job prospects, but honestly I think the biggest impact in this particular case might staying, and leaking like a sieve.
I keep getting reminded of A Tale of Two Cities. How did that start… It was the headiest of times, it was the headlessiest of times?
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No, that’s how it ended.