January 18, 2005
Not going gently into that good night
-Keith Olbermann
SECAUCUS — After the Thornburgh-Boccardi report on CBS News came out a week ago yesterday, it was the big question: Why did four mid-level executives lose their jobs, when nobody above them and nobody on the air, did?
Never assume, as Felix Ungar warned. It turns out three of those four executives are still working for CBS News. Thus did CBS President/Chairman Leslie Moonves confirm to writers covering the television publicity tour in Los Angeles today.
Mary Mapes, the producer behind the so-called "Killian Memos" story, was fired outright. But Senior Vice President Betsy West, "60 Minutes 2" Executive Producer Josh Howard, and his deputy Mary Murphy, were asked to resign in the aftermath of the independent investigation.
Mr. Moonves says they have not. "They are in discussions now," he noted, and added that there were lawyers now involved, so he couldn't say much more. But he did go into detail about the continuation of Andrew Heyward as President of CBS News. Moonves said he made the decision to retain him, adding that Heyward's subordinates were responsible for the quote "screw-up."
As to what's next, Moonves says that when Dan Rather leaves the CBS Evening News in seven weeks, he wants a quote "revolution and not an evolution," possibly including an anchor team — the members of which might even be in different cities. He refused to comment on any of the names mentioned as Rather's successor: Katie Couric, John Roberts, John Stewart, Stuart Little, Little Richard, Richard Lewis, or Lewis Black.
But Moonves did talk about what he saw as a "reinventing" of the news format to discontinue what he called the "voice of God" style of single host. "We are looking at all sorts of options, ensembles... big names, little names. One of the ways we're looking at is making it younger and more relevant, something that younger people can relate to, as opposed to that guy preaching from the mountaintop about what we should and should not watch."
Hey, pal — I'm workin' this side of the street.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6667405/#050118a