CBS’ Week From Hell

Not a great week in journalistic excellence over at Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite‘s old stomping grounds. The “Tiffany Network” had three embarrassing episodes which shine an unflattering light on how sloppy and undisciplined social media practices can expose an organization’s usually sterling reputation to ridicule.

First came the outrageous postings of an executive on her Facebook page disdainfully ridiculing the victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas as “gun-toting Republicans” not worthy of her sympathy.

“If they wouldn’t do anything when children were murdered I have no hope that Repugs will ever do the right thing,” wrote Hayley Geftman-Gold on as first reported by The Daily Caller. “I’m actually not even sympathetic bc country music fans often are Republican gun toters.”

Geftman-Gold was a Senior Counsel for CBS and was summarily fired within hours of the public postings.

Next came the premature announcement that Rock and Roll legend Tom Petty had passed away, even though he was still alive.

Earlier today, TMZ reported that Petty was rushed to the hospital last night after he suffered a full cardiac arrest. As the story began to break online, CBS News sent out a now-deleted tweet saying they heard from an LAPD source who told them that Petty officially passed on.

A clear case of CBS News, through their twitter feed, wanting to be first at the expense of being accurate. They pointed the finger at the LAPD who pointed the finger right back claiming they had “no investigative role” in the Petty matter and was never in a position to confirm his death.

CBS’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week culminated in an embarrassing report (now retracted) that former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick had agreed to stand for the national anthem if given another opportunity to play in the league.

As Mediaite reported yesterday:

According to CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, Kaepernick has been devoting much of his time to keeping in shape in case a team signs him, working out 6+ hours a day. the QB also told La Confora he is not quitting on football and will work out any time and place for a team just to get another opportunity.

And while he is still going to work on social justice issues and do his charity work, when it comes to the whole anthem thing, he told the CBS Sports reporter that he will indeed stand while it plays.

After the story had been relayed by the AP and the NFL and other news outlets, Canfora took to Twitter to refute his own report:

Meanwhile, Kaepernick’s girlfriend took to Twitter to refute Canfora’s refutation.

In summary, a CBS reporter appears to have made up a pretty significant item about Kaepernick in the middle of a volatile news cycle surrounding the national anthem protests the former NFL quarterback instigated. They amde TMZ look like the responsible, circumspect journalists in the room when jumping the gun on Tom Petty’s obituary. And they had a senior legal executive making sick and partisan observations on the innocent victims of a mass shooting while those victims were still lying dead at the scene of the crime.

Not a good look. And a very bad run for a network that spends a lot of energy decrying “fake news” from outlets not as well-funded or stalwart as they. Bob Schieffer, CBS’ elder statesman made such a condemnation just four days ago. It sure doesn’t age well in light of CBS’ week from hell:

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.