On CBS, Columbine Dad Blames Violence on Secularism (Feedback)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/03/AR2006100301491.html

The emotions surrounding the murder of five girls at an Amish school in Pennsylvania were still raw Monday when the "CBS Evening News" put on a commentator who blamed such violence on abortion and "expelling God from the school."

Brian Rohrbough, who lost his son in the 1999 Columbine school massacre in Colorado, made the remarks on the "Free Speech" segment, which for the past month has provided a 90-second platform for pundits, politicians and ordinary people to sound off.

The decision to approach Rohrbough and air his views prompted a storm of criticism, some of it within the ranks of CBS News. Anchor Katie Couric responded on her network blog, saying: "We knew when we decided to put on this segment that a lot of people would disagree with it. We also knew some might even find it repugnant.

"But that is the very essence of what we're try to do with the 'Free Speech' segment. This is a platform for our viewers to hear from a wide range of people -- those who may share your views, and those who don't."

<snip>

Many detractors wrote to CBS's Web site. One called Rohrbough's remarks "the biggest load of hogwash I have ever witnessed. How could you use an unspeakable tragedy to give a rightwing flat earth nut job a podium?"

On edit - Katie's cutesy blog about it.:puke:

Garrison Keillor likes to say, “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegone.” Whereupon he unwinds another of his elegantly crafted monologues, proving that the week has been anything but quiet.

Well, it’s been a quiet week at “Couric and Co.” And it’s only Wednesday.

The mailman nearly suffered a hernia hauling in sacks of comments over Monday’s “freeSpeech” segment. (We took a few packages that were ticking and threw them in the creek…) Surf around the CBS News website and you’ll find all sorts of ideas and opinions about this. A tell-tale sign that this was going to be an especially interesting week: nearly every comment, on every post, for the last three days, has had something to say about “freeSpeech,” no matter what the topic.

Personally, I was struck by how many of the people who posted began their comments with one word: “Shame.” As in “Shame on you, Katie Couric.” (I might mention here that the majority of people wagging their fingers and using that word would proudly label themselves free-thinking, tolerant, progressive, maybe even liberal. Tolerance, it seems, has its limits.) I was also struck by how the tide seems to have turned. Over the last 24 hours, a growing number of e-mails and comments have been in support of Brian Rohrbough and his views. A friend of mine who runs a conservative blog says that’s not surprising. She told me that most people who agree with Rohrbough would not be inclined to watch CBS, and when they heard through the blogosphere grapevine that “freeSpeech” was causing a kerfuffle, and that abortion and evolution and Christianity were being mentioned, they wandered over to take a look.

Now it’s hitting the papers. Media maven Howard Kurtz (who, I swear, should be played by Ray Romano in the movie version of his life) has written about the controversy in this morning’s Washington Post.

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/couricandco/main500803.shtml

[WCGreen]

1. From what I understand, FS platform has decidedly right tilt...

[Warpy]

3. "TILT?"

They're so far to the right that they've slid off into the lunatic fringe.

I can't watch what that nitwit Couric is doing to that department. It's hideous.

They used to be the most centrist of all the broadcast news outfits. She's gone hard, far right.

[WCGreen]

7. I said the more benign Tilt because I couldn't FIND the actual

numbers that had been reported...

I try not to make claims that can't be substantiated....





On Edit added word FIND...

[Warpy]

23. Ask and ye shall find.

After 10 days of no progressives or Democrats on CBS' "Free Speech," segment featured the Wash. Post's Eugene Robinson,
<snip>
Media Matters for America has monitored the Evening News' "Free Speech" segment, and, for the past week, regularly noted CBS' failure, through its 10th broadcast, to include any progressive pundits or Democrats, despite featuring conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Bush aide and speechwriter Michael Gerson.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200609200001

Media Matters called Robinson a liberal columnist. I've always found him quite centrist.

[greyl]

14. mediamatters agrees with you.

(I'm pretty sure that's who's been tracking it)

[RamboLiberal]

18. Judge for yourself - here's what they've aired so far

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/freespeech/main500903.shtml

Looks a bit tilted - but if they keep getting hammered maybe they'll swing back a bit or drop this idiotic segment. Hey that's how the RW got their attention, hammered them all the time while spewing endlessly through their parrots "liberal media, liberal media, squack, liberal media".

[Ezlivin]

2. Not easy to claim that when the victims and the perpetrator were Christian

I cannot recall ever reading a headline that said "Atheist murders/rapes/assaults anyone/anything/anywhere".

If secularism is such a threat, why is it that all the criminals seem to be Christian?

[AtomicKitten]

4. okeedokee

And the faux christians on the right harbor pedophiles, sexual predators, corruption, lies, and war-mongering. Arising from that mindset, no wonder violence is breaking out here and all over the world. At least Saddam's secularism effected a truce in the region.

[Swamp Rat]

9. and don't forget about all those wars over the last two thousand years

fought over, "my god is greater." :eyes:

[dkofos]

5. Fluff BS Fluff BS

We need real news reporters not FLAKES

[kerry-is-my-prez]

6. Why is it that the shooters are almost always "repressed" RW Christians??

A LOT fo them have turned out to be from families that were ultra-religious. Also families that happened to have abunch of guns laying around. I think it would be safe to say that these people would also be RW Republicans.

[Supersedeas]

8. how about believing in and hating God enough to murder Amish girls!!

[dflprincess]

10. Personally, I think the rise in violence can be laid right at the doorstep

of Republicans.

For the last twenty-five years they've told us that greed is good; the only person who matters is "Me", and we do not owe anything to the greater good. How can they be surprised that this attitude has "trickled down" to more than just the white collar criminals they aim their message to?

[Cha]

12. Yes, you are so very right! Do you think

little miss perky couric would do a segment on that?

[wtmusic]

17. good pt

heightening the sense of entitlement for these idiots to take out their frustrations on others :thumbsup:

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Not to mention their failure to take care of people

with social programs!! Just think, if the staff at Columbine had been able to refer those two kids for the counseling they so obviously needed, or if the man in PA had been able to enter a program where he could have gotten therapy for his obvious demons, we may have a bunch of kids not dead today.

When oh when will we ever connect the dots here and start spending our tax dollars on social programs that actually help people instead of wars that kill people???

[Cha]

11. Where's the proof of this Bullshit?

I read the killer was a deeply religious person ..so where does this guy get off coming up with this shit?

[TlalocW]

13. So is it because

The DEEPLY CHRISTIAN shooter had been exposed to abortion and evolution, or AMISH GIRLS had been exposed to abortion and evolution?

TlalocW

[Avalux]

15. It's people like him that are the problem -

people who sprew their hatespeech and condemn others for not believing as they do or acting like they do. So sick and tired of these insane people getting a platform. Sounds like Phelps's bullshit.

[RamboLiberal]

16. Rohrbough's Transcript and video

I'm saddened and shaken by the shooting at an Amish school today, and last week’s school murders.

When my son Dan was murdered on the sidewalk at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, I hoped that would be the last school shooting. Since that day, I’ve tried to answer the question, "Why did this happen?"

This country is in a moral free-fall. For over two generations, the public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, expelling God from the school and from the government, replacing him with evolution, where the strong kill the weak, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value.

We teach there are no absolutes, no right or wrong. And I assure you the murder of innocent children is always wrong, including by abortion. Abortion has diminished the value of children.

Suicide has become an acceptable action and has further emboldened these criminals. And we are seeing an epidemic increase in murder-suicide attacks on our children.

Sadly, our schools are not safe. In fact, we now witness that within our schools. Our children have become a target of terrorists from within the United States.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/02/freespeech/main2057062.shtml

Here are some of the comments that have landed in our in-box – William R. says:

It is sad to see CBS pander to the extreme right wing. The network that brought us Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite has now become a cheap imitation of Fox (false) news.
Barbara R. was also disappointed:

We have been CBS evening news watchers for many years, but tonight was the last night I will ever watch the news on CBS.

What in the world was Couric thinking of when she had the Columbine parent on Free Speech? He blamed the lack of religious teachings in school, Darwin and abortion rights for the murderous rampages in Colorado and Pennsylvania.
Ed B. said:

Obviously this gentleman has lived through a parent's worst nightmare and today's events surely brought back terrible memories. What I found offensive however is the CBS News choice to present his highly personal views to a wide national audience with no opportunity for an alternate voice to be heard. While I may agree with some of his thoughts, others are completely absurd and would surely lead this country back to the Middle Ages. You gave this individual an uncritical platform to demonize activities such as the teaching of evolution. Can this argument also be extended to the convicted pedophiles of the Catholic clergy? I hope in the future you will be more discriminating when inviting comments from the public to be used in the Evening News.
Derrick G. sees too many conservative voices on the segment as a whole:

This is a noble effort, the segment on “freeSpeech;” it could lead to a rejuvenation of our public airwaves by creating a 21st century public commons, another platform for our citizens to converse with one another. You will add nothing but poison to the well if you continue to allow only the voices of the right-wing polemics to be aired to the nation.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/10/03/publiceye/entry2059105.shtml

[RamboLiberal]

20. And here's how CBS viewed on their public eye

So, was this particular commentary out of bounds? I actually found it to be exactly the type of commentary in general that makes me want to see the segment continue and thrive. But there is a very legitimate criticism of this particular episode, an issue of relevance.

Because both recent school shootings involved an outside adult and not students, whether or not our educational system is creating a moral vacuum seemed out of place and creates confusion about just what the immediate issue is. I would certainly rather have that disconnect than have something perfectly scripted written for someone instead of their genuine thoughts. But this was an unfortunate case of mixing apples and oranges in my opinion.

The other criticism being leveled is at the segment in general. Many commenters upset with the content of the commentary feel that the conservative viewpoint is favored over others. Much of that depends on where one sits on the ideological fence of course. There have been conservative like Rush Limbaugh and Rudy Giuliani (although I could find plenty of conservatives who don’t claim the former New York Mayor) featured, but there have also been some pretty liberal commentaries as well, especially on the issue of immigration. You can see all the segments here and make up your own minds. But keep some perspective, there have only been 20 of them to date and it’s much too early to declare a widespread lack of balance. Give it a few more months and judge the whole body of work.

My personal take, for what it’s worth, is that Mr. Rohrbough’s commentary was the kind of strong opinion that makes “freeSpeech” worth running every night. Then again, I like being challenged to think, and I especially enjoy being forced to defend my own thoughts, beliefs and assumptions and I’m not threatened by someone who doesn’t agree with my personal ideological checklist. And I find it fascinating that the reader who lauds Murrow (who took on Joe McCarthy) and Cronkite (who took on the Vietnam war) sees no inconsistency in complaining about “freeSpeech.” But you’re free to disagree with me.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2006/10/03/publiceye/entry2059105.shtml

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. I heard this guy

It was all about abortion, morals and Jesus. That's why we have so much violence. It was way over the top.

I figured he had lost more than a few marbles when his son died.

[Dean Corso]

22. Church shootings

When there's a church shooting,what do they blame that on?

[newyawker99]

24. Hi Dean Corso!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: