Rittar
Seaman Recruit
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12
Location: Texas
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 Posted: Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:39 am Post subject: Letter writing does work |
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http://www.theeagle.com/businesstechnology/100604wtaw.php
Updated October 6, 2004 0:43 AM
WTAW to dump CBS News
By BRETT NAUMAN
Eagle Staff Writer
Local radio station WTAW will sever its ties with CBS News because of negative reaction to the network’s recent news coverage of President Bush’s military record, the station said Tuesday.
WTAW, which is located at 1620 AM, will ditch its CBS affiliation and begin airing national news broadcasts from ABC within 90 days, station manager Ben Downs said.
A news piece that relied on questionable memos depicting Bush as having used his family’s connections to get him into the Texas Air National Guard during the 1970s “acted as a catalyst” for the switch, Downs said.
While residents have complained for years of a liberal bias at CBS, the memos scandal produced about 350 letters and e-mails urging WTAW to abandon CBS for another network, Downs said.
The community has good reason to think CBS has picked a side in the presidential election, Downs said. WTAW will not take the heat for the network breaking several journalism codes, such as ensuring the reliability of documents, he said.
“I don’t think CBS has a defensible position on this,” Downs said. “I feel a little checking would have found these were old claims. Even I can look at the memo and tell it didn’t come from a Selectric typewriter.”
WTAW, which has a conservative lineup of talk show hosts, is a locally owned radio station that since the mid-1980s has received national news at the top of every hour from CBS.
Downs characterized WTAW’s audience as conservative and said the decision to abandon the station’s affiliation with CBS reflects the negative sentiment against the network from the community.
“In New York City they’re not going to think the way we do in Bryan, Texas,” he said. “Down here when you talk about President Bush, you talk about a guy who was governor of our state and his father’s presidential library is here. It’s personal.”
Although many residents asked the station replace CBS with Fox News, that news organization only provides a minute-long newscast at the top of every hour, Downs said.
WTAW needs a five-minute broadcast to fill its news hole, Downs said. ABC’s long history of providing accurate and unbiased reporting in radio and television made it the station’s choice for a new network, he said.
One local resident wrote to the station: “I listen most exclusively to your channel because of Rush [Limbaugh], [Sean] Hannity and [Laura] Ingram — I have even been known to listen to [Alan] Colmes. I will probably continue to listen to your channel no matter what. But please think about getting your hourly news from a more reliable and unbiased source.”
Downs said Tuesday morning he spoke briefly on air about the upcoming switch and told listeners that now would be a good time to e-mail him to argue against dumping the CBS affiliation.
As of 3:30 p.m., no one from the community had replied, he said.
“CBS is so much bigger than what we are,” he said. “It won’t make a difference to them if we’re an affiliate. But it will make a difference for our audience, and that’s the reason we’re making the change.”
• Brett Nauman’s e-mail address is bnauman@theeagle.com.
Rittar
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USA, CW3 (Ret), 1971-1994 |
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