Hey CBS - Who will balance Katie Couric and Cheney's office?

[KurtNYC]

Katie Couric will be anchoring the primetime news for CBS. Now, I'm fully aware that the Fairness Act was repealed decades ago but that doesn't excuse CBS/Viacom from laws regarding slander and illegal campaign contributions (donations of $$$$ in airtime).

It is widely rumoured that Couric gets lists of questions from RW sources including the VP's office (see below) to ask Today Show guests. Like this exchange with Howard Dean:

COURIC: Hey, wait a second. Democrats took — Democrats took money from Abramoff too, Mr. Dean.

DEAN: That is absolutely false. That did not happen. Not one dime of money from Jack Abramoff went to any Democrat at any time.

COURIC: Let me just tell you — According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Abramoff and his associates gave $3 million to Republicans and $1.5 million to Democrats, including Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid.

DEAN: Not one dime of Jack Abramoff money ever went to any Democrat. We can show you the FEC reports, we’d be very happy to do it. There’s a lot of stuff in the press that the Republican National Committee’s been spinning that this is a bipartisan scandal. It is a Republican-financed scandal. Not one dime of money from Jack Abramoff ever went to any Democrat, not one dime.

COURIC: Well, we’ll obviously have to look into that and clarify that for our viewers at a later date. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Mr. Dean, Governor Dean, thanks so much for talking with us.

DEAN: Thanks very much.

Clearly, Couric is not just asking a question since she goes on to argue that the false assertion in the question is correct! Then apparently, since she is clearly not the one that formulated the question, says she will have to go back to them to "look into that." Btw, we're still waiting for Couric to clear up the false impression she created.

So where does Couric get this stuff if not from her own mind? Another Today Show guest provides a clue:

It doesn't hurt to report the truth. It's ok. You know. I was on a, one of those morning talk shows and after we went to commercial, the person who was interviewing me said you know, you are right, I mean when the war started, it was very difficult here to book the people we wanted to book, ask the questions we wanted to ask. In fact, I got a memo about my tone of voice. And apparently the brass had received a call from the Dick Cheney's office is what – and said that he didn't like my tone of voice. And I got a memo on it to watch my tone of voice. Well you've got to tell that story! You've got to tell that story. I can't. Well why? They can't fire you.

You are like one of the most well-known people in America. And, you know, you've got to tell this story. If you don't tell it, I'm going to wait like maybe another week. What's today? Within the week, I will put this on my web site. I'll tell the whole story and I'll name who said it. So this person is unnoticed now and I am doing it in a friendly way. Because this is a good person. You know? Just that I think the people deserve the truth and they need to know how the decisions get made behind the curtain. Who is pulling the strings here? Who's calling the shots? It's like, coming from where I come from politically, we always are in this place of yeah, the man this and the man that and this corporation and this and that and there's probably a part of us that says oh, you know, it's really, there's, maybe it's not that bad. You want to believe it isn't that bad. You know? And then, they have made the mistake of giving me a peek behind this curtain and I've seen this happen and it's stunning to me,...

http://www.alternet.org/election04/19385/

That was of course Michael Moore after one of his appearances on Today during the 2004 elections.

So CBS, will there be a co-anchor? One who can refute the talking points which Couric so dutifully reads on air? A neutral person (if one exists) is not the appropriate counter-weight because Couric is far from neutral. Or perhaps, if Couric is asking questions written by the VP's office, she should say so. Eg. "The VP's office says that Abramoff gave money to Democrats too...." That would at least be more honest than what she has done so far.

[xultar]

1. I suppose she never looked into it @ a later date. People believe

the shit she spews and she knows good and damn well they do. FURTHERMORE she didn't follow up on her promise to check in on it so she leaves the question. BEEIATCH.