Opinion: CBS News Makes a Clear Move Away from the Cronkite Era

I grew up with Walter Cronkite in the living room every night.  Channel 3 (the local CBS affiliate), was and still is by far the best TV news organization covering Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.   It was also one of two stations we could get in the 60's, so there weren't choices like we have today.  But we didn't need choices.  Cronkite was the most trusted man in America, and for good reason.  Until he retired, I never had a clue whether he was a Republican or a Democrat.   Fast forward 38 years, and CBS has never really been able to fill Cronkite's shoes.  They've  come close, but their latest move signals that the storied news brand is no longer interested in even trying.

After years of turmoil and scandal in the Dan Rather years, and the failed Katie Couric experiment, it looked like CBS finally turned it around with Scott Pelley.  Pelley brought them back with good ratings and solid reporting.  I trusted him.  But then, in 2017, the network moved Pelley out of the anchor chair and brought in young Jeff Glor.  Glor got a little emotional at times during stories, but he was pretty good too.  But this week came word out of left field (literally), that Norah O'Donnell would be displacing Glor in the big chair.

O'Donnell has repeatedly shown her colors and they are decidedly blue, not red.

An article in Newsbusters clearly points this out.

She connected Donald Trump to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, labeled Mike Pence “Elf on the Shelf” and asked former Senator Jeff Flake if the President should be removed from office. O’Donnell also admitted to throwing far-left Senator Elizabeth Warren a “softball” question.

But I didn't need to read the article to know what this move means for CBS News.  They're obviously going with the news version of late-night host Stephen Colbert, the vitriolic, Trump-hating flame thrower.   America wanted none of Colbert on CBS until the President was elected and he found his ratings niche.

I have no doubts Norah O'Donnell and her boss, Susan Zirinsky will try to duplicate the Colbert rating success with an anti-Trump newscast.  I'm sure they think they can disguise their agenda, but  people will know, just like they knew O'Donnell was pining for a Hillary Clinton presidency before the election of the president.  I won't be watching CBS.  I'll be switching over to Lester Holt  on Channel 8 at 6:30pm.   He may not be Walter Cronkite, but I  like him and I trust him.  His bosses---not so much.   But I'll take what I can get when it comes to mainstream media.  I think the days of objective news reporting may be gone forever.