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CBS News Fires Producer Over Arafat Special Report (can anyone say DAN RATHER)
Reuters ^ | November 14, 2004 | Steve Gorman

Posted on 11/14/2004 11:57:16 AM PST by Former Military Chick

LOS ANGELES (Nov. 13) - CBS News has fired the producer responsible for interrupting the last five minutes of a hit crime drama with a special report on the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, a network source said on Friday.

Word of the dismissal came a day after CBS apologized to viewers for breaking into "CSI: NY," one of its top-rated shows, on Wednesday night.

"An overly aggressive CBS News producer jumped the gun with a report that should have been offered to local stations for their late news. We sincerely regret the error," the network said in a statement on Thursday.

The network, owned by Viacom Inc., declined comment on a report of the dismissal posted on the Web site of trade publication Broadcasting & Cable.

But a network source told Reuters that CBS fired the producer who decided to break into "CSI" with a report from "Up to the Minute" anchor Melissa McDermott.

According to the source, the producer failed to follow standard procedures that require a senior CBS News executive to be consulted before interrupting regular programming.

The fact Arafat already had been reported near death for several days also figured in the network's decision.

The source said the producer disregarded explicit, advance instructions that breaking news of Arafat's death -- if it occurred during prime time -- was to be reported with a news "crawl" at the bottom of the screen.

"Arafat had been literally on his deathbed for a week. Everyone knew he was going to die. It was just a matter of when," the source said.

Neither of CBS' two biggest rivals -- NBC or ABC -- interrupted regular programming to report Arafat's death.

NBC said it ran a crawl for affiliates in the Western states and Rockies, while leaving the story for local news in eastern and central time zones. ABC said it ran a crawl on the West Coast.

CBS News has been under intense scrutiny since veteran anchor Dan Rather ran a controversial report on President Bush's military record based on documents whose authenticity came under fire.

11-13-04 07:25 EST


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: arafat; arafatisstilldead; bizarroworld; cbs; cbsnews; csi; doublestandard; fired; rather; rathergate; wrongamright
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So, here is a producer that made a mistake but will take the fall for the network, yet when Dan screwed up they kept him on, inspite of the outrage and his poor judgement. Can anyone explain to me why they would do this?

I did a search and found another story she worked on: Lawsuit Seeks Casket Photos

Melissa McDermott

If all this slime makes you feel like you need a shower, perhaps taking a moment to look at the faces of our Veterans will help you forget about CBS.

Veterans gather at memorials in D.C. area - Including AMAZING photo's of Vietnam Veterans Memorial

1 posted on 11/14/2004 11:57:16 AM PST by Former Military Chick
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To: Former Military Chick
CBS News has fired the producer responsible for interrupting the last five minutes of a hit crime drama with a special report on the death of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, a network source said on Friday.

ROTFLOL! This just made my whole day. Woohoo!

2 posted on 11/14/2004 11:58:48 AM PST by Prime Choice (STFU ACLU.)
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To: Former Military Chick

Mapes' rectum is puckering.


3 posted on 11/14/2004 11:58:56 AM PST by martin_fierro
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To: Former Military Chick

NOW, where is NOW. This is blatant descrimination. Crickets...


4 posted on 11/14/2004 11:59:34 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter
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To: Former Military Chick

Exactly. Really tells you where CBS’s priorities are.


5 posted on 11/14/2004 12:02:11 PM PST by bushisdamanin04
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To: Former Military Chick
Veterans gather at memorials in D.C. area - Including AMAZING photo's of Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Um...this links to an article entitled, "Sobered Gay Rights Groups Vow to Change Public's Mind (hello knock knock -- last election)"

6 posted on 11/14/2004 12:02:53 PM PST by Prime Choice (STFU ACLU.)
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To: Former Military Chick
No, no, no. This is different from Rathergate.

This one cost them money. Rathergate was just, y'know, political.

Keep writing any company that advertises on See-BS that until Rather is tossed you'll by from someone else.

7 posted on 11/14/2004 12:03:12 PM PST by woofer
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To: Former Military Chick

The masters of the MSM are getting more and more jumpy!


8 posted on 11/14/2004 12:04:09 PM PST by eagle11 (You can't build a party platform on a social welfare safety net most Americans hope they don't need!)
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To: Former Military Chick

Of course by that standard it doesn't make sense.

The right call, in my book, would have been to just runs an NBC News ticker at the bottom of the screen, just saying that Arafat had passed away, and saying tune in at 11PM (only 10 mins later) for the full report.

Prepare a special 2 minute thingy for the local affils to run. It was probably 'in the can' anyway.

The producer made a very bad call. Rather made an even worse call, but he has more 'stroke' with the brass and that's what counts.

Actually, I would have chewed out the producer for the bad call and fired Rather. It appears that while the producer of the Arafat breaking news story got canned, I don't think Rather even got chewed out.

There is no justice in corporate or otherwise heirarchical environments. I worked in NYC law firms for eight years and they were run so poorly I can't begin to tell you!


9 posted on 11/14/2004 12:05:02 PM PST by HitmanLV (I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.)
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To: Former Military Chick

Mind-boggling. The utter lack of critical thinking displayed by CBS bigwigs is no longer shocking- but always worth noting for reference.


10 posted on 11/14/2004 12:06:00 PM PST by SE Mom (God Bless our troops.)
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To: Former Military Chick

Granted, Rather should've been gone the Friday after he "broke" (irreparably) the fake docs story. But in this case Melissa McDermott is just the reader, not the producer. CBS didn't name that dimwit, and whoever it is will just get kicked down to one of the CBS owned&operated stations or go across the street to another network. Melissa will keep reading whatever she's handed. Business as usual, so expect more of the same stupidity.


11 posted on 11/14/2004 12:06:01 PM PST by WestTexasWend
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To: Prime Choice
Damn do I feel stupid. I thought I had the right post, did not check from last night, so for those along with Prime Choice who click on the like I posted in #1 here is the correct link: Veterans gather at memorials in D.C. area - Including AMAZING photo's of Vietnam Veterans Memorial
12 posted on 11/14/2004 12:08:54 PM PST by Former Military Chick (Lets keep the MSM to the grind stone, stories like this should not be ignored.)
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To: Former Military Chick

...but what she reported wasn't forged, I don't get it :{)


13 posted on 11/14/2004 12:08:59 PM PST by gorush (Exterminate the Moops!)
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To: All
Corrected POST from POST 1:

Veterans gather at memorials in D.C. area - Including AMAZING photo's of Vietnam Veterans Memorial

14 posted on 11/14/2004 12:09:42 PM PST by Former Military Chick (Lets keep the MSM to the grind stone, stories like this should not be ignored.)
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To: Former Military Chick

What a joke. So people missed three minutes of a TV show. CBS is acting like the Producer committed some sort of criminal act. All of this while they continue to bury their heads in the sand about the runaway bias in the news division, which is the real problem. Their priorities are still screwed up. Their ratings are already in the basement. You'd think they would get a clue at some point.


15 posted on 11/14/2004 12:12:04 PM PST by orangelobster
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To: HitmanNY

While I would say that you should be working at CBS, that might cut like a knife, but, you have a keen eye on what they should have done in both instances.

Frankly I think they fired the producer to show that in their inaction of Dan Rather that they do care about their viewers and will take action. For us smart folks out there we see through their sillyness and frankly it is still WRPONG! I think she errored.


16 posted on 11/14/2004 12:12:30 PM PST by Former Military Chick (Lets keep the MSM to the grind stone, stories like this should not be ignored.)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

But Dan's an old man prone to fits of delusion. He is a protected employee (even if he may be somewhat mentally unstable).

Grey Panthers and mental health types could rise to his defense if he was canned.


17 posted on 11/14/2004 12:13:02 PM PST by weegee (WE FOUGHT ZOGBYISM November 2, 2004 - 60 Million Voters versus 60 Minutes - BUSH WINS!!!)
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To: Former Military Chick
What?
No two month investigation ?
It just shows that SeeBS can move quickly if
their sensibilities are violated.
18 posted on 11/14/2004 12:13:30 PM PST by oldbrowser (You lost the election.....................Get over it.)
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To: oldbrowser

Heck, they even dragged their heels over the broadcast of a mutilated nipple as the grand finale of the Super Bowl half time show.


19 posted on 11/14/2004 12:15:59 PM PST by weegee (WE FOUGHT ZOGBYISM November 2, 2004 - 60 Million Voters versus 60 Minutes - BUSH WINS!!!)
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To: Former Military Chick

Haha! No offense on the 'CBS' complement! Thanks!

CBS's behavior is transparent, you are right! Screw these jackasses! I don't watch much on CBS anyway except Raymond, King of Queens and an occasional CSI!

Keep the faith!


20 posted on 11/14/2004 12:16:31 PM PST by HitmanLV (I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.)
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