This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge.
CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil addressed viewers in what appeared to be a pre-recorded promotional segment aimed at repairing more than a decade of reputational damage and announcing changes to the program. He acknowledged that the corporate media outlet had “missed the story” too often and, in doing so, had lost the trust of Americans.
“On too many stories, the press has missed the story, because we’ve taken into account the perspectives of advocates rather than the average American. Or we’ve put too much weight on the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you,” Dokoupil said in the two-minute video published early on New Year’s Day.
Dokoupil continued, “So here’s my promise to you: You come first. Not advertisers. Not politicians. Not corporate interests. And yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you, which means I tell you what I know. When I know it, and how I know it. And when I get it wrong… I’ll tell you that too.”
Dokoupil basically admitted that CBS and much of the MSM-industrial complex functioned as little more than PR firms for the highest bidder. We saw this with the Hunter Biden laptop story, the COVID origins, Joe Biden’s mental health, and the list goes on. Quite frankly, the American people dumped MSM many years ago in favor of alternative outlets.
Nothing new here.
Dokoupil’s promise to viewers comes as CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss plans to overhaul the broadcaster as part of a broader review of standards and procedures, according to a recent Axios report.
Weiss’ overhaul of CBS is bold and noble, and so is Dokoupil’s promise to actually report the news, but we’ll believe it when we see it. CBS has gotten many of the top stories of the past decade wrong, often by design to protect politicians, special interests, or to allow advertisers to influence the news cycle.
We remain skeptical that MSM can be overhauled to report real news rather than function as a public relations firm. That skepticism was reinforced earlier this week, when MSM outlets rushed to Minneapolis to discredit citizen journalist Nick Shirley’s bombshell reporting on suspected Somali-linked fraud, coverage that appeared less like an investigation and more like protection of the Democratic Party and special interests that stand to benefit from the alleged schemes.
X users called out CBS’ reporting earlier this week…
Ratioed.
MSM was radio silent…
To rebuild trust, Weiss should host a segment about everything CBS has gotten wrong over the past decade.