All Blog Posts from Public Eye

Morning show segments featuring anchors interviewing the star of the network’s most popular show are not rare events -- one of the “Desperate Housewives” on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” a fired cast member of “The Apprentice” on NBC’s “Today” or the latest “Survivor” to be deported on CBS’s “The Early Show”. Criticism of this type of content, of course, is not rare either.

Still, watching “The Early Show” last week, I noticed that there seemed to be more of this kind of material than usual. It also happened to be the beginning of May "sweeps," which began April 27 and run through May 24. Sweep periods, as you may know, are the times each year when Nielsen Media Research calculates the ratings of the country’s local television markets, ratings which are used to determine advertising rates. The more people who show up to watch during that period, the more advertisers can be charged for air time.

We took a closer look at "The Early Show" last week, and spoke with the broadcast's senior executive producer Michael Bass about some of the issues that arise for the show when it comes to sweeps and promotion.

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One of the top stories on CBSNews.com today concerns Pat Robertson's comments about Ariel Sharon. Robertson suggested Friday "that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine punishment for 'dividing God's land,'" as the story puts it. Robertson, who has been a figurehead of the evangelical movement since he powered onto the national scene as a presidential candidate in 1988, has garnered attention recently because of controversial comments, such as his suggestion that disaster may strike a small Pennsylvania town because residents "voted God out of your city" and his call for the United States to assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Presently he controls a television network, the Christian Broadcasting Network, and hosts its flagship show, "The 700 Club."



Guest blogging on the Web site of the liberal Washington Monthly, Amy Sullivan wrote, "I try not to comment on all of the ridiculous things that come out of Pat Robertson's mouth because 1) he's a moonbat who seems to be reading a very different translation of the Bible than I am, and 2) most evangelicals, even conservative ones, don't think of him as a spokesperson who represents their views."



The response prompted another liberal blogger, Atrios, to ask: "So who would represent the views of conservative evangelicals better than Pat Robertson?" He added: "I'd quite like the views of religious conservatives to be represented by people who are less nuts than Pat Robertson even if I subscribe neither to their religion nor the politics."



I asked "Evening News" host Bob Schieffer for his thoughts on Robertson and whether he thought there were others who better represent evangelicals.



Schieffer, who considers himself a religious person, has covered Robertson and interviewed him several times in the past, and says "at the beginning he represented a particular point of view, and articulated it quite well." But he's reluctant to cover him now.



"I think we have to be very careful about quoting Robertson, because I'm not sure who he represents anymore," he said. "His comments have gone beyond interesting and into bizarre." The "Evening News," he points out, has not covered Robertson's recent comments.

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Last week, PE learned that Dr. Bill Law Jr., president of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, recently sent a letter to Michael Bass, executive producer of “The Early Show,” regarding a segment from the broadcast on Sept. 19 during which anchor Rene Syler interviewed Dr. Steven Hotze about thyroid disease.



You can watch the segment below:












In the letter, Law expressed the organization’s “extreme concern and disappointment with the unchallenged and scientifically erroneous comments” that Hotze made about the disease during the segment “and the effect that this information may have on the health of patients with thyroid disorders.”

From the letter:

“Many of Dr. Hotze's claims about the incidence and development of an underactive thyroid condition, commonly referred to as hypothyroidism, were completely erroneous and unsubstantiated, and are readily refuted by a large body of solid scientific evidence.”

Law then cited several examples of such statements that Hotze had made during the segment, and continued:

“It was truly astonishing and puzzling that Ms. Syler, an educated professional journalist on a national television program, would not challenge the validity of Dr. Hotze's statements in any fashion. His self-serving performance amounted to a thinly veiled infomercial for his practice and book, and the fact that it was permitted, and even invited, does not reflect well on your network.”


"AACE believes strongly that the national forum CBS provided to Dr. Hotze was a great disservice to your viewers, particularly those seeking and needing scientifically substantiated medical advice on the treatment of hypothyroidism. AACE would be happy to provide legitimate professionally-recognized medical experts to appear on CBS to discuss thyroid and other hormonal disorders in the future. In the meantime, we encourage you to view AACE’s guidelines on thyroid disorders at www.aace.com.”

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Each week, PE selects one CBS News employee we want you to get to know a little more about. We ask them ten questions from us and select a bonus question submitted by our readers. This week’s subject: Michael Bass, senior executive producer of the “Early Show.”

And stay tuned, coming later today we take you inside the “Early Show” control room where you will see the controlled chaos of live television.


So, what do you do for a living?

I have one of the best jobs in television in terms of what you get to do – putting on a morning news program every day is incredibly exciting and fulfilling – and also one of the worst in terms of schedule – the hours are horrible! Actually, even though I’m more of a night person than a morning person, I don’t mind them so much, because we take great pride and responsibility in the fact that we’re there when people get up in the morning, telling them everything they need to know about what’s going on in the nation and world. I think since 9-11, waking up to morning news is more important to people than ever before -- and I think that's one reason why it's the part of TV that's grown the most in the last five years.



I also think we have a responsibility to entertain as well as inform. So we try to have a little fun, too – add in some lighter moments, trying to help people get off to a good start for the day. To me, there’s nothing more fun or exciting than doing live television, and we get to do it for two hours every day.

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Each week, PE selects one CBS News employee we want you to get to know a little more about. We ask them 10 questions from us and select a bonus question submitted by our readers. This week’s subject: Michael Bass, senior executive producer of the “Early Show.”



And stay tuned, coming later today we take you inside the “Early Show” control room where you will see the controlled chaos of live television.



So, what do you do for a living?

I have one of the best jobs in television in terms of what you get to do – putting on a morning news program every day is incredibly exciting and fulfilling – and also one of the worst in terms of schedule – the hours are horrible! Actually, even though I’m more of a night person than a morning person, I don’t mind them so much, because we take great pride and responsibility in the fact that we’re there when people get up in the morning, telling them everything they need to know about what’s going on in the nation and world. I think since 9-11, waking up to morning news is more important to people than ever before -- and I think that's one reason why it's the part of TV that's grown the most in the last five years.



I also think we have a responsibility to entertain as well as inform. So we try to have a little fun, too – add in some lighter moments, trying to help people get off to a good start for the day. To me, there’s nothing more fun or exciting than doing live television, and we get to do it for two hours every day.

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This week’s 10 plus 1 questionnaire will feature Michael Bass, senior executive producer of “The Early Show,” “The Saturday Early Show,” and “The CBS Morning News.” Check out his bio here (as it turns out, he knows a little bit about the Olympics).



10 plus 1 means we ask 10 questions and you submit one. Fair, no?



And from now on, the 10 plus 1 feature will only include those employees of CBS whose names can be immediately useful as puns. We’ve got other things to do, you know. Just kidding. We’d have quite a time trying to interview Mika Brzezinski that way.

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