All Blog Posts from Public Eye

John Blackstone joined CBS News in 1980, as a correspondent based in London and later, Paris. He covered stories in the Middle East, Central America, Africa and Europe before moving to the San Francisco bureau in 1986, where he is currently based. He covers stories throughout the West, including everything from natural disasters to the technology industry of Silicon Valley. Below, John shares some anecdotes about the good and bad luck that goes along with live television and tells us why he’s not a fan of those ever-popular “man on the street” interviews.

What do you do at CBS News?

I am a correspondent based in San Francisco. I cover stories, primarily in the western states, for the CBS “Evening News,” “The Early Show” and “Sunday Morning.”

What single issue should be covered more at CBS News?

We do plenty of stories about medicine and health but I think we could do more on the economics and politics of health care in America. When the head of a health insurance company can take home tens of millions of dollars but family doctors have a hard time keeping their practices open, it’s an issue that has widespread impact and should get more of our attention.

Read full post…

John Blackstone joined CBS News in 1980, as a correspondent based in London, then Paris. He covered stories in the Middle East, Central America, Africa and Europe before moving to the San Francisco bureau in 1986, where he is currently based. He covers stories throughout the West, including everything from natural disasters to the technology industry of Silicon Valley. Recently, he's been covering the E. coli and reported on a blind California boy who has developed an alternative . Check out some of his recent reports and e-mail us your questions for John Blackstone.

Read full post…

“The news is so awful lately, we thought at least a little good news would be in order. So we close tonight with the story of a man who has an unusual relationship with ducks,” said Bob Schieffer last night, introducing the final piece on the “Evening News,” a profile by John Blackstone of a California duck hunter who also rescues ducks in the region, where the wetlands are dwindling.



ABC’s “World News Tonight” also closed with a feature that was unrelated to Katrina or other news of the day—a piece on a recent study from Columbia University on the benefits of family dinners. “Those of us who have children don't need a reminder of how hard it can sometimes be to spend as much time as we'd like with our kids,” said anchor Elizabeth Vargas, introducing the piece.



With such an overwhelming amount of news about Hurricane Katrina--most of it depressing--when and how does a broadcast decide that it’s time to include something unrelated and upbeat?

Read full post…