Laborr Day Travel, Porrts Controversies -- Correspondent Bob Orr Gets Into All Of It

(CBS)

What do you do at CBS News?

I cover the transportation and homeland security beats and a wide range of breaking stories, occasionally including the kitchen sink.

Middle America. The coasts are dominant in terms of power and politics so they draw huge media attention. There are some great people with interesting stories who live somewhere between New York and Los Angeles.

Are you kidding me? All of the people involved are still alive and/or in power.

Yes, just about every Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day. When you are the transportation correspondent, for some reason, editors feel compelled to have you handle the "holiday travel" piece. Here's the way my Memorial Day story will begin: "Across America, highways are crammed, airplanes are jammed and travelers are short on patience." It's timeless and true.

I grumble and then I do it.

I would be the play-by-play voice of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I check out the TV news and rotisserie baseball sites, but I try not to get too caught up with most blogs. I did a Google search of my name one time and found out that I know nothing about airplanes and that I conspired with the government to cover up the actual cause of the TWA 800 crash.

I just finished reading James Swanson's "Manhunt The 12-Day Chase For Lincoln's Killer." It's fascinating and, by the way, the subject of a CBS "Sunday Morning" piece I'm working on for April 16. Are plugs allowed here?

I was in the fifth grade and our teachers dismissed school early without any explanation. I went home to find my mother crying in front of the television. This was just after Walter Cronkite had taken off his glasses, looked into the camera and told America the president was dead.

I would require that stories be more thoroughly reported and vetted before being rushed on the air. While speed is fine, accuracy is paramount. Unfortunately, the 24-hour news cycle has resulted in too much bad information being spewed out in real time. Everything is "Breaking News" even if it's unsubstantiated, uncorroborated, unfair, or even untrue. That's broken all right. And one more thing, I could stand fewer pundits screaming at me.

You've never heard of Farah Gianis, but she was both fascinating and inspiring. I met Farah when she was 9 years old and dying of leukemia at Columbus Children's Hospital. She personally never knew a bad day, but she was very worried about the kids with broken legs in the orthopedic unit. She used to visit them every day just to cheer them up.

As for the jerk, I once had a U.S. Senator threaten me with bodily harm for simply showing up at his house to do an interview that his own staff had arranged. Somewhere, I still have the videotape.

This was always a story about politics and not about security. But, politicians mindful of public fears and midterm elections played the security card to kill the deal. I can tell you at CBS News we made a considerable effort to explain that.

But, the political side of the Dubai ports debate clearly dominated most media coverage. It was one of those Washington stories that snowballed out of control. In truth, many politicians from both parties did put out misleading or incomplete information. And to the degree that the media left that go unchallenged, the press played a role.

Now, that the tempest has passed I believe it is incumbent on both the politicians and the press to follow through on all of the legitimate port security concerns raised by the dubious Dubai debate.