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Les Moonves speaks

19 comments on Les Moonves speaks

Les Moonves speaks

: Still at the ANA confab and CBS boss Les Moonves is being interviewed by Scott Donatan of AdAge. Asked about the future of CBS News, Moonves said:

Obviously, this has not been a banner year for CBS News… We’re making changes that probably should have happened a long, long tie ago. One of hte problems with being the Tiffany tnetwork was that people at CBS News still thought that Edward R. Murrow was down the hall and still alive….

All the networks have been operating the same way for 25 years in how they do the news and there’s a new thing called cable news… We’re looking at doing something somewhat different… We’re looking at changing the format somewhat, makig it a bit more relevant, faster paced…

We’ve said this before: that single anchor voice of God.. may be over or certainly we should veer away from it.

: On the American Idol voting glitch, Moonves jokes: Do you really think they had a problem or they wanted to stretch it out? “I wish I’d thought of it first for Survivor.”

19 responses to “Les Moonves speaks”

  1. AlanC Avatar
    AlanC

    “… there’s a new thing called cable news… ”
    Is this guy for real? New thing, called cable news? Next thing you know CBS will be touting the fashion break-through, the Leisure Suit!
    This is as bad as finally recognising that steam ships had replaced sails, IN 1935!!!

  2. AlanC Avatar
    AlanC

    Oh sorry but I forgot this doozy….”the same way for 25 years…”
    Does good old Les think that Ed Murrow did Reagan’s innauguration?

  3. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    Come on, Alan, the man is acknowledging the Brigadoonish nature of CBS News in recent years and saying it has to change. I would not kick him for that.

  4. Scott Ferguson Avatar
    Scott Ferguson

    With Moonves talking only about tweaks to the CBS News organization, he’s either clueless or being coy. Which is it, Jeff? You were there.

  5. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    This was an ad crowd. So this was a quick question with a quick answer and I thought he was decisive about big change.

  6. paul_lukasiak Avatar
    paul_lukasiak

    This is frightening….
    We’re looking at changing the format somewhat, makig it a bit more relevant, faster paced…
    “faster paced”? are we going to cut the maximum length for sound bites from 15 to 9 seconds?
    and “more relevant” is usually a euphemism for “consumer reporting” that focuses on new products, “medical reporting” that focuses on new medicines — that (at least on a local level) is actually prepackage “Video News Releases” from corporations.
    Moonves apparently thinks that “The Tiffany Network” is just supposed to be a high end Home Shopping Network….

  7. Dishman Avatar
    Dishman

    At least he knows there’s a problem. Considering their history, that’s a huge step.

  8. AlanC Avatar
    AlanC

    Sorry Jeff, even as a quick answer to a quick question I think this shows a serious lack of touch to reality.
    Either he is being coy for political reasons (not Washington politics, but, internal, customer/supplier type) or he is seriously out of touch.
    This really strikes me as someone that went to sleep in 1965 wakes up in 2005 but thinks that it’s 1985. If that is the case he’s STILL 20 years behind the curve. Granted that’s an improvement over 40 years, but not significantly.

  9. Scott Ferguson Avatar
    Scott Ferguson

    Let’s hope so.
    The “new CBS News Division” will have to abandon its elitism — not the elitism of being professional (they should BUILD on that), but the elitism of being somehow separate from or superior to the community they serve. They can’t play that game anymore. Nobody can.
    If Moonves wants rapid, permanent cultural change at CBS News, they should move the entire division to Denver. :)

  10. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    “Do you receive any money at all from any sources to advocate certain views?
    2. What is your relationship to the following groups:
    (a) Iraq The Model, a bogus pro-US blog run by the Fadhil brothers, which you helped set up;
    (b) Spirit of America, a bogus US charity which brought two of the Fadhil brothers from Iraq The Model to Washington, where they met in person with Paul Wolfowitz and George W. Bush in the White House late last year;
    (c) Cyber Century Forum, a US thinktank that helped set up Spirit of America and which (incidentally) holds over $100,000 stocks in the Oil Industry;
    (d) Direct Impact, a “Grassroots” marketing company that pays people to subversively promote sites like Spirit of America?”
    Oh boy hit and run propaganda with the questions already supplied with answers!
    So when did you stop beating your wife?

  11. Scott Ferguson Avatar
    Scott Ferguson

    “Ryan” is channeling the late Senator Joe McCarthy — but without the benefit of Senatorial immunity.

  12. C Bassett Avatar
    C Bassett

    Didn’t Dan Rather in an interview a few years ago say that he saw-and talked to- Edward R. Murrow’s ghost in the CBS News building?

  13. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    “”Ryan” is channeling the late Senator Joe McCarthy — but without the benefit of Senatorial immunity”
    Only for the irony!

  14. Dishman Avatar
    Dishman

    I believe there’s an error and misunderstanding here. That is, Ryan’s comments should have been largely italicized (i, /i) in quoting “a fair question indeed” above.

  15. robert dowling Avatar
    robert dowling

    you need a spell check on your pieces. more typos than i have seen in years.

  16. Old Grouch Avatar
    Old Grouch

    Robert-
    Look at it as the first bulletin. He’ll fix ’em in the writethrough… ;-)

  17. Ruth Avatar
    Ruth

    Noted in the last post, Bob Corn-Revere is subbing for the FCC speaker because all were told to cancel speaking engagements when K.Martin became chairman – this is the Federal *Communications* Commission. Doesn’t this strike anyone else as bizarre?
    No more communications, commission, is that the statement here or am I missing something.

  18. HA Avatar
    HA

    Faster paced? What the hell does that mean? Are they going to do even LESS corraboration before they broadcast fake news? Maybe CBS should hire Emeril Lagasse to kick it up a notch.
    I agree that CBS should try something different. I suggest journalism.
    How much does Moonves make?

  19. Kurt Avatar
    Kurt

    This guy is real! Really=))