Activism Alert - CBS News re: Soc Sec

CBS Acknowledges-- But Doesn't Include-- Bush "Critics" on Social
Security
December 17, 2004

On December 13, FAIR issued an action alert, directed at CBS Evening News and CNN's NewsNight, in response to misleading or unbalanced reports on Social Security that aired on December 9. CBS appeared to respond to those criticisms on the December 15 broadcast of CBS Evening News. But the network's admission fell short of actually providing balanced Social Security coverage. Reporting from Bush's economic summit, CBS correspondent John Roberts continued to stress that Social Security faces an imminent shortfall:

<snip>

After Roberts finished his report, anchor Dan Rather offered an unusual post-script: "You may want to note that many critics of the president's ideas insist Social Security is not in nearly the trouble that Mr. Bush and some others say it is. Their view is that the president is overstating the case to serve special interests such as Wall Street investment houses. The argument figures to continue for a long while."

While it is encouraging that Rather acknowledged that there are
differences of opinion, CBS should do more than mention them at the end of a segment; instead, they should include those perspectives in their reporting. If, as Rather, suggests, the "argument figures to continue for a long while," why not allow that argument to be heard on your newscast?

CBS's apparent aversion to a real debate was demonstrated again on
December 16, when Roberts took a look, in Rather's words, "at what the
Bush plan would mean to you." Although Rather prefaced the segment by
noting that "opponents disagree with the president's view of the problem and his solution," such disagreement was not evidenced by CBS's two interview subjects. One declared, inaccurately, that "by the time I get to be the age to accept Social Security, there won't be any there for me to accept"; the other was said to agree that Social Security faces a "looming financial train wreck." On the question of privatization, the second guest favored it, while the first was, in Roberts' words, "on the fence."


more...
http://www.fair.org/activism/cbs-social-security-update.html