So has CBS's politics, nationally and local.
2004: CBS ran a television "news" special hosted during the presidential campaign by Dan Rather, promulgating a canard that then young George W. Bush was AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard in the 1960s, displaying forged documents in a malicious effort to "prove" their point.
c. 1968: Walter Cronkite, CBS' avuncular news anchorman, falsely hinted that the US was losing the Viet Nam War after the Tet offensive, causing a breakdown of civilan support for the war effort.
1964: CBS "News" concocted an obviously fraudulent smear story, claiming that GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was being celebrated for his achievement by neonazi groups in western Europe. The plain truth is that neonazis in Europe would not be lauding Goldwater; rather, as a man whose father was Jewish, Goldwater would be targeted for death by the Nazi racial laws.
It's not a legacy to be proud of. I'm sure some of you can come up with many more examples of CBS' on-air expressions of hatred against politicians and causes they wanted to see defeated.
Besides the Tet canard (U.S. and ARVN forces were, even as "Uncle Walter" spoke, taking apart the dreaded and elusive Viet Cong cadres like so many boiled chickens -- the VC were never again a military factor in the war), CBS News producer George Crile engineered the Westmoreland smear that accused Westmoreland of rigging intelligence estimates for political reasons (the judge's instructions to the jury essentially ruled out any finding for the general, and his attorneys persuaded Gen. W to settle the suit for a mere apology).
And of course there was, only slightly O/T, the CNN-TIME "Tailwind" poison-gas canard that involved Comsymp TIME reporter Peter Arnett. The story blew up in CNN's faces.
Thanks justiceseeker93.
Bump!