Posted on 05/12/2007 2:05:19 PM PDT by SandRat
The CBSNews.com blog "Public Eye" reported today that a retired general who has appeared in anti-Bush TV ads has been dismissed as a CBS News military analyst due to his political activism. Yet the CBS executive who defended the move seemed to almost blame CBS's at-home audience for the personnel decision.
Maj. Gen. John Batiste (US Army, Retired) may still be quoted on CBS's newscasts, he just won't get paid for it.
"We might still go to the general to ask about things, but not as a consultant to CBS News," CBS News Senior Vice President for Standards Linda Mason was quoted by editor Brian Montopoli.
Montopoli quoted Mason's rationale for asking Batiste to leave (emphasis mine):
"When we hire someone as a consultant, we want them to share their expertise with our viewers," she [Mason] said. "By putting himself front and center in an anti-Bush ad, the viewer might have the feeling everything he says is anti-Bush. And that doesn’t seem like an analytical approach to the issues we want to discuss."
[...]
She said that Batiste's appearance in the ad marked a violation of CBS News standards, in which “we ask that people not be involved in advocacy.”
CBS was right to dismiss Batiste. A network-paid military analyst simultaneously working as a partisan activist is, to say the least, not good journalistic practice. That being said, it's odd that Mason couched the firing as a concern for how "the viewer might have the feeling" that Batiste is a partisan, rather than defending the decision in terms of upholding journalistic integrity.
NewsBusters and the Media Research Center will be watching to see if CBS News features Batiste in future stories without including mention of his participation in an anti-Bush TV ad.
Oh, it’s only for ‘political activism.’ At least he didn’t say “nappy headed ho.”
Talk about the world turned upsidedown, C...BS news is actually firing Batiste for political activities for George Soros and detrimental to our soldiers in Iraq?
I bet Dan Rather ordered a double Scotch when he heard this...
That's a good one! Of course they will go to him to ask him about things. He fits the role model for being an "expert" on the military matters of surrendering to the enemy.
Yeah I know passed over so many times he has a stiff neck from the breeze.
Interesting isn't it that the level of Conflict of Interest that would result in a mandatory separation of the person from the job in ANY other business in the world, is not only rampant in major "News" rooms around the country, but is seen as totally acceptable to political propagandists pretending to be "Journalists" like Joe Kelin here?
CBS has Standards? Who knew?
People who knew him in V Corp didn’t care for him either.
And here we go again with a retired Major General by the name of John Batiste (or in Spanish it means You are Beat) who is taking the route of the famous General of the Revolutionary War, his name was Arnold I think, and switched sides. This time, not to the British but to al-Qaeda.
I was told that all retired military officers are still under the UCMJ, with that in mind I desire to bring charges against this al-Qaeda supporter, (violation of articles 94, 99 and 100 to start) but when I asked I was told that one does not bring charges against Generals, especially ones that have gone over to the enemy and are supported by the anti-Military al-Qaeda supporters in the US Senate and House.
It is a shame that my tax money is going to support this al-Qaeda supporters lifetime pension of over $100,000.00 per year, plus medical and other freebees that retired Generals get.
Since he is supporting al-Qaeda along with the others members of his club in the US Senate and House, how much has he been paid for his services to the enemy or has he been promised a job in the new Sharia Law government if his side wins? One is at a loss to know but one is saddened by the fact that a person who supposedly took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic is now taking the side of the enemy and drawing thousands of taxpayer dollars as he does it.
Since, in my humble opinion, he has violated his oath he should be removed from his position and denied all privileges of his rank since it seems he now supports the enemy and not the United States Military.
First this whiner was passed over for promotion, and now he’s been fired. I don’t know why SeeBS would expect him to give them any juicy quotes after that.
As I noted on another thread, Wikipedia says: “In spring 2002 Eric Shinseki chose Batiste to be commander of the First Infantry Division of the United States Army, which was deployed to Iraq in December 2003, during the war.”
In other words Bush and Rumsfeld failed to notice that one idiot clintonoid recommended another idiot clintonoid for an important job, and evidently he didn’t do it very well.
That’s a lot to assume without more information, but my sense is that everything Shinseki touched turned into mud.
We're on to the general.
We've come to realize he loves his own voice and his BDS gives him purpose in life beyond anything we could pay him, or keep from by not paying him, for that matter. We've realized the way not to pay him and still get as much from him as we want, is to fire him. The added benefit there, of course, is we look that much more unbiased, since our at home audience has apprised us they think it unsavory we should have to pay for BDS-talking heads, when they believe our producers already have cornered that market. / C BS idiocy
HF
PR move, plain and simple. The truth of the matter is that now that he’s not a paid consultant you will see him on CBS twice as much as you did before.
I Totally agree with you.
LMAO!!!
I mean V Corp Hq’s.
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