April 7, 2008

CBS: No Plans To Outsource News Operations

CBS News Responds To Report Of Outsourcing Talks With CNN

(CBS)  CBS News has no plans to outsource any of its newsgathering operations to CNN, a CBS News spokesperson said.

"We are extremely satisfied with and proud of our newsgathering operation. No outside arrangement is being negotiated," the spokesperson said.

CBS News issued the statement in response to a story in the New York Times that reported CBS has been discussing a deal to outsource some of its newsgathering operations to CNN.

The newspaper, citing two unidentified executives as sources, said the talks involved cutting CBS' news operations while retaining prominent figures like CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.

The Times said that over the past decade, CNN had held talks with CBS News and ABC News about possible joint ventures.


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by CBSTV April 7, 2008 11:18 PM PDT
This alleged joint venture does make sense in light of the drastic personnel cuts that CBS has implemented at its owned-and-operated stations in the past week.
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by thisandthat1 April 7, 2008 11:52 PM PDT
I''m not surprised at that story and have a feeling there''s some truth to it, even if CBS isn''t ready to announce it yet. I''ve figured they were only keeping Katie Couric through this year''s elections and maybe the inauguration and then .... so long, Katie! I can''t imagine stockholders will continue to put up with the abysmal ratings much past that. I''m sure Katie will land on her feet. Plus, she''s been paid very well so she won''t starve.
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by vet999999 April 8, 2008 12:24 AM PDT
Well, they should. Maybe we could get some decent information for a change...
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by stn_sage April 8, 2008 12:32 AM PDT
I''m glad CBS is retaining its'' news gathering operation---at least for now. If a cut needs to be made, I suggest you axe Katie Couric! I don''t mean to sound harsh, but she''s not very good or effective as a broadcast news anchor!

It''s a far cry from what she did as an entertainment/news person for MSNBC! She just hasn''t been able to make the transition. I''m surprised CBS gave her the job to begin with and didn''t hire from within! If you specifically wanted a woman, you have several on staff who would have done a better job!
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by yongamerica April 8, 2008 12:40 AM PDT
CBS has already out sourced its news gathering organization. Very little of what it is reporting comes from CBS news reporters.
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by bookout2 April 8, 2008 12:45 AM PDT
Katie Couric is about effective as a flee floating
down the river on its back yelling "raise the draw
bridge".
Reply to this comment
by bookout2 April 8, 2008 12:47 AM PDT
Katie Couric is about as effective as a
flea floating down the river on its back yelling
"raise the draw bridge".
Reply to this comment
by alphaa10-2009 April 8, 2008 1:14 AM PDT
Has it come to this? After having Rather fall on his sword, for fear of offending Bush with exposure of his Texas ANG disservice to his country, CBS would stunt its still-worthy editorial effort?

Apparently, not so-- all the ruckus is mere disinformation from the enemy. Any network which knows the difference between investing in professional journalism and spending money on studio set design has a future.
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by watcher269-2009 April 8, 2008 2:40 AM PDT
CBS News has no plans to outsource any of its newsgathering operation

---

Wow, here''s a surprise - this way they can re-write the news the way they want - who wants to know what''s really going on in this country. CBS - news manufacturer and selective coverage of news stories. Fluff - no substance! Just look at Katie - Fluff - talks about laundry detergent on the news - not about how we are being taken to the cleaners by the Republicans!
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by marvoy April 8, 2008 2:45 AM PDT
Dump Couric, don''t dismantle the house.
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by harrydoghiny April 8, 2008 3:53 AM PDT
Murrow rolls in his grave...
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by joyous88 April 8, 2008 4:28 AM PDT
the republicons already tell them what to write

how much ''farther out'' can you outsource than that?
Reply to this comment
by Gary Kempf April 8, 2008 6:41 AM PDT
(CBS) CBS News has no plans to outsource any of its news gathering operations to CNN, a CBS News spokesperson said.

They are very comfortable reporting bush dictated stories, Incomplete facts, Spineless reports. Why should they outsource? For what purpose? If they are only reporting highly edited stories. Does CBS,CNN.NBC,ABC even know what the word "investigate" means? Do they know reporting all the facts mean?? Just Once, I would love to see a reporter get up and ask Bush or his idiots in following a real question..
"Why are you allowing oil to spiral up out of control destroying the Middle Class? Why are you allowing the Oil Companies to continuously under produce??? And demanding a answer.

Well that is a fantasy, Just like being able to retire before I am 80 years old. Stopping illegal immigration, Taking away tax breaks from corporations that have outsourced all the jobs. So on and so forth.....
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by wilee812 April 8, 2008 8:24 AM PDT
Oh yeah the news outlets are all conservative think tanks!!! That is a laugh.... Just like any President of the United States has the power to control the commodities markets to give us cheap gas. How about getting all the tree hugging liberals to let the oil companies build some new refineries? Every single liberal is saying "Not in my back yard".
Let the companies use the Canadian oil sands (close to being banned) or the Alaskan oil fields or just pay the price now and shut up.
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by dovestar April 8, 2008 8:35 AM PDT
Well, well,t looks like the Bush haters are at it again. I suppose if CBS News was outsourcing some of its operations that would somehow be President Bush''s fault too. Rush Limbaugh needs to change his slogan about having half his brain tied behind him. With these Bush haters around, Limbaugh can have at least 9/10 of his brain tied behind him and he could still run rings around these Bush-hating morons. Think for yourselves and get a life.
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by gkc99 April 8, 2008 8:41 AM PDT
"Well, well,t looks like the Bush haters are at it again. I suppose if CBS News was outsourcing some of its operations that would somehow be President Bush''''s fault too. "--Posted by dovestar



Bushit hasn''t had an original thought in his life. He says what he is told to say by his owners. He''s a braindead Howdy Doody who makes a nice figurehead for the Rupert Murdochs of this world. His room temperature IQ and inability to form a complete sentence would have doomed him to mediocrity if he hadn''t had a rich powerful daddy to push him, and a group of puppet masters who found him to be a "useful idiot".

Bu-bye bye Bushit!
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by Gary Kempf April 8, 2008 8:47 AM PDT
wilee812
The president does have the power to control U.S oil, he has the power to release oil reserves, he has the power to make oil companies answer questions. Of course he also already knows the answers. Blame whom ever you want, liberals,enviromentalist,congress,etc. for the lack of refineries. The ultimate blame goes to the oil companies, because they are the ones that haven''t even tried to build a refinery since 1976. They haven''t even made any improvements or expansions until after Katrina. They are in the business of oil....
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by mjvw2 April 8, 2008 9:12 AM PDT
A cheeseburger is a hamburger, accompanied with cheese. The cheese is usually sliced, then added a short time before the hamburger finishes cooking to allow the cheese to melt. In America the cheese that makes up a cheeseburger is usually American cheese, but there are many other possible variations. Mozzarella, blue cheese and cheddar are also popular choices.

makes as much sense as the rest of this garbage
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by TexGEOas April 8, 2008 11:41 AM PDT
Say it ain''t so.

I was so hoping CBS and CNN would get together so there would be a CNN-BS

Much more fitting name for the both of them.

TexGEOas
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by dhood4prez12 April 8, 2008 12:07 PM PDT
Here is a suggestion for the "news" agencies in general. How about reporting the NEWS for a change? No spin, no political agenda, no editorial opinions; just the simple eloquent FACTS. There are plenty of editorial shows on the supposed news networks, but there is NO NEWS. Every station takes it upon themselves to re-word what they report to "punch it up" for ratings. It''s just a guess, but the trend of sensationalizing the news seems to have started when they realized that all the news stations were the same. Here is a little news flash for the news organizations: All of the news outlets are the same again, however now they are all editorial political opinion spin outlets. If you want more viewers/readers do something different, keep your opinions out of the news. Let us make up our own minds without the clutter of your idiocy.
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by walt1944-2009 April 8, 2008 12:11 PM PDT
Why do I get the feeling this is a TAKEOVER???

CBS News hasn''t been the same since Walter Chronkite retired and proved it by "retiring" Dan Rather after he ran his 60 Minutes II story on how the Great Emperor Bush II "served" his country in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War. CBS bowed so LOW to the Great Emperor that time you could tell where the floor ended and the body began!

Naturally CNN is no better! It''s all part of the neocon plot to censor the news, running only "happy" dog and pony stories, but ignoring the real facts. That way, you won''t really know what is going on out there, how ruthless the neocon Fascist Nazis are, and how stupid (AND DANGEROUS) the Great Emperor Bush II and "Bagdad" John McCain really are!

SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!!
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by robfromohio1 April 8, 2008 12:14 PM PDT
hey tuffone3 - from 10:06am posting - you really should not refer to "illiterate nobs" while spelling are as "aare" in your second sentence. It casts a bit of doubt to your intellect
Reply to this comment
by tbweb April 8, 2008 12:58 PM PDT
The simple truth is somebody incorrectly thought Katie Couric could run with the big boys and Brian Williams and Charles Gibson outperformed and outclassed her!
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by skikirk680 April 8, 2008 12:59 PM PDT
Its a good idea because then when CBS runs one of its stories that can be proven false by anyone with functioning brain matter, they can blame CNN! They deserve to just go out of business. If you are one of the people on here ******** about all news being "right-wing" driven, please see a therapist. You seriously have to be completely delusional to believe that! Thats why when CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, etc have a "objective panel", it usually consists of four left wing morons and one pseudo conservative! I''m thrilled to see the main stream media finally on its heals. It WAAAAY overdue!
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by hellokatie-2009 April 8, 2008 1:27 PM PDT
News gathering costs money, and so do celebrity talking heads. CBS News, you people need to start spending money on journalism, not personalities. When you get smart and realize the world has enough celebrities -- and most are really boring and more than slightly stupid - and get some real journalists on staff, then and only then will CBS News be worth anything. Katie Couric is not a journalist, never will be, and is so overpaid it''s amazing people haven''t been fired.
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by sanfelz April 8, 2008 2:41 PM PDT
CBS fired some of its best local reporters last week from CBS-owned stations. Just like the print media, they respond to lower profits by diminishing the product. Outsourcing is not really the issue. The bulk of news continues to be derivative on all newscasts on broadcast and cable. More resources need to be devoted to news; those resources include time, money and personnel.
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by pollroller1 April 8, 2008 3:22 PM PDT
Hold that thought. We have to break for a commercial.
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by yzhenry-2009 April 8, 2008 3:45 PM PDT
Lets see here.. CBS is in last place in ratings, has an idiot anchor, favors liberal point of view... CNN makes sense... guess they could then call new idea
CNN BS (Bull ***) which is what CBS if full of anyway..
Reply to this comment
by oleander8 April 8, 2008 4:26 PM PDT
''News gathering costs money, and so do celebrity talking heads. CBS News, you people need to start spending money on journalism, not personalities.''

Thank you, hellokaty!!
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by djohnson413 April 8, 2008 5:25 PM PDT
Why go with CNN. CBS should go for a respectable source, Fox News. They are the only news source that actually reports news and not biased commentaries.
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by hypnotoad72 April 8, 2008 7:10 PM PDT
CBS - thank you for valuing America. There are legitimate times and reasons for offshoring. I don''t believe the media is one of them. Media is inevitably intertwined with the culture of the country it is in.

As for the tired, trite argument the media is left wing, I will recite that often-seen bumper sticker that reads something like this: "The media is only as left as the right wing conservatives who own them." More to the point, anyone with a functioning brain can see that any article can be slanted to one particular point of view; typically within the bias of the one writing it, but there are exceptions. Forget puerile and pedantic bumper stickers, to even say the media is "dominated by the ___-wing" is grossly myopic.
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by dulcejesus April 8, 2008 7:10 PM PDT
To djohnson413,

Ha...hahaha....hahaha....HAHAHAHA...

Stop it, you''re killin'' me!
Reply to this comment
by hypnotoad72 April 8, 2008 7:11 PM PDT
djohnson413 -- while I value FOX news, for some reason they seem to shy away from certain topics; the most obvious one would probably be the arguments over "offshoring". If Bill O''Reilly alone were to address that issue, I might even pick up cable again.
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by hermitdave April 8, 2008 8:37 PM PDT
They might as well since all media is managed. We no longer have any independent major news media.
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by jghutto April 8, 2008 11:15 PM PDT
At first I didn''t think I would like Katie as a news anchor, but I have grown to like her. She delivers the news pleasingly, not in an authoritative tone like some of those men anchors do. I don''t know why there is so much gripe about her!
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by pfd572 April 9, 2008 1:12 AM PDT
Why should CBS be any different. So many US companies and organizations are outsourcing everything from hospital health care technicians, doctors and tests.(have you been in the hosp. lately and had to wait for an outsourced doctor, test and test results, its dangerous. All thanks to our selfish Republican leaders, but...), to call centers. Anything for the bottom line. I hope this isn''t reconsidered, we need more than one news outlet for competition to ensure fair, impartial reporting.
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by pfd572 April 9, 2008 1:14 AM PDT
Why should CBS be any different. So many US companies and organizations are outsourcing everything from hospital health care technicians, doctors and tests.(have you been in the hosp. lately and had to wait for an outsourced doctor, test and test results, its dangerous. All thanks to our selfish Republican leaders, but...), to call centers. Anything for the bottom line. I hope this isn''t reconsidered, we need more than one news outlet for competition to ensure fair, impartial reporting.
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by incog-nito April 9, 2008 2:08 AM PDT
Why not? Fox News has already outsourced their reporting to the National Enquirer.
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by termtex01 April 9, 2008 5:02 AM PDT
Latest word is CBS will either outsource their newsgathering to their Bangladesh bureau, or Al Jazeera.

So, get ready for massive grammar mistakes (if Bangladesh), or no change whatsoever (if Al Jazeera).

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by termtex01 April 9, 2008 5:04 AM PDT
"As for the tired, trite argument the media is left wing, I will recite that often-seen bumper sticker that reads something like this: "The media is only as left as the right wing conservatives who own them."

Posted by hypnotoad72 at 07:10 PM : Apr 08, 2008"

Ah, so you base your deductions on bumper stickers?

So scientific and accurate. My God, you must be a mental giant to use bumper stickers to back up your arguments.
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by sharednotion April 9, 2008 1:16 PM PDT
I''m glad that CBS News and CNN will each continue to do their own basic news-gathering. But, I also think it''s a good idea that they & their people occassionally cooperate, such as when CNN''s Chritiane Amanpour has sometimes done a report for a segment on CBS''s "60 Minutes" program.
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