CBS News, Cheney, Bravers, and Press Arrogance

Is it any wonder the Bush gang have played the mainstream press like a fiddle. This White House has succeeded in taming the press, the way they've handled the new Democratic majority in Congress. It's all about elitism and the connection to power. And it all adds up to the near death of democracy in America:

A profile of Lynne Cheney, the vice president’s wife, that appeared on the CBS News program “Sunday Morning” last weekend included a statement of disclosure. The correspondent, Rita Braver, told viewers that her husband, the Washington lawyer Robert B. Barnett, had represented Ms. Cheney in the publishing deal for her new memoir, “Blue Skies, No Fences,” which served as the main peg for the story.

Yesterday, after questions about the propriety of Ms. Braver’s assignment were raised on several media Web sites, including that of CBS News, the division’s senior vice president for standards, Linda Mason, defended it.

“Rita is the best person to do this interview,” Ms. Mason said, noting that Ms. Braver is a national correspondent for the program who is based in Washington. Ms. Mason added that Rand Morrison, the “Sunday Morning” executive producer, had told her of the piece and the plans for Ms. Braver’s disclosure in advance of it running. “I said it was fine.”

“Not disclosing would have not been fine,” she added.

But some journalists have suggested CBS News would have been better served by assigning someone whose spouse had no financial ties to Ms. Cheney to do the profile, which included an extended tour of the vice president’s home. (“We were the first television crew ever invited into their personal living quarters,” Ms. Braver told viewers.)

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