Senior CNET Writer Resigns Over Dish Controversy

[TNGTony]

Dish Network facebook post this morning:

Learn how CBS violated basic journalistic principles of freedom & integrity. http://usat.ly/W7TraR If CBS will stop DISH from winning a CNET tech award, imagine what they’d do to other stories that weren’t ideal for their business.


USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/01/14/rem-rieder-cbs-cnet/1833943/

 

[Scherrman]

Dish Network facebook post this morning:

Learn how CBS violated basic journalistic principles of freedom & integrity. http://usat.ly/W7TraR If CBS will stop DISH from winning a CNET tech award, imagine what they’d do to other stories that weren’t ideal for their business.


USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/01/14/rem-rieder-cbs-cnet/1833943/

I'd have to agree with that. What if CBS had a major investment in a CE product but no one knew they did, don't you think they would be swaying their editors to make sure the product received great reviews? I wouldn't blame them for doing it but it doesn't make it right. Right now that's all I can think about when I think of reviews on CNET now.

 

[GaryPen]

Sorry but I totally disagree with you on this. C|net is relevant in this. This has damaged my confidence in "any" review of anything by them. Now I have doubt of it being an unbiased review port. You can say ,just because of this one instance, but now I don't know if there has been other instances that never were revealed to the public on other non Dish products.

You obviously didn't understand what I wrote at all, as I said basically the same thing you are saying - CNET reviews, awards, and articles can no longer be trusted for accuracy and integrity. I was merely pointing out that it wasn't relevant whether or not they are directly at fault, or whether they are directly blamed. There was nothing they could do except follow the orders of their corporate owners, CBS, who is the entity directly to blame.

 

[GaryPen]

I think you misunderstood the second part of what you quoted. Nowhere does she say she would bend over and do the same thing. She is saying that no matter how tough it gets, she will not jump ship and abandon her team. I find it admirable.

If she is not willing to quit over a similar occasion in the future, then she is indeed saying "thank you sir, may I have another", as that will be her only option. The only admirable thing would be to quit, or disobey and be fired, which is basically the same thing.

 

[Tony S]

I think you misunderstood the second part of what you quoted. Nowhere does she say she would bend over and do the same thing. She is saying that no matter how tough it gets, she will not jump ship and abandon her team. I find it admirable.

It is admirable that she supports her team; I agree with that. But for her to say she will do everything in her power to stop this from happening, then say that if faced with the same situation she will just throw up her hands and say oh well, what can I do, and then just continue working there like nothing happened, means she is doing nothing to stop the problem.

 

[dare2be]

Two interpretations of her statement, two different outcomes. I don't make the leap that she implies that she would just act as if nothing happened. I take it as she will stand behind her people and put up a fight instead of just jumping ship.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

Two interpretations of her statement, two different outcomes. I don't make the leap that she implies that she would just act as if nothing happened. I take it as she will stand behind her people and put up a fight instead of just jumping ship.

...with the same end result. She's just assigning blame, trying to let everyone know she's not the bad guy...

 

[dare2be]

...and leaving would help how? Same end result, as you say.

 

[cosmo_kramer]

...and leaving would help how? Same end result, as you say.

I never said she should leave, I just find it curious that she would need to proclaim she's against the decisions, but there's nothing she can do about them. CYA, the probable reason...

 

[GaryPen]

...and leaving would help how? Same end result, as you say.

Leaving would at least be admirable. Staying would simply be self-preservation.

 

[dare2be]

Leaving her team behind would also be self-preserving. It's a different scenario from a Senior Writer resigning (the title of this thread), and the Editor-in-Chief.

I get a feeling most here did not read the entire article and just pieced together context from the 2 (out of order) sentences that were quoted. Read the entire article (again). Here's more:

I could have quit right then. Maybe I should have. I decided that the best thing for my team was to get through the day as best we could and to fight the fight from the other side. Every single member of the CNET Reviews team is a dedicated, ethical, passionate technology critic. If I abandoned them now, I would be abandoning the ship.

She's the captain of a sinking ship...I find her decision admirable.

 

[dfergie]

Now when I watch anything from CBS news I expect to see a clip from Les ... "I approved this clip" ...

 

[GaryPen]

Leaving her team behind would also be self-preserving.

No. Those who chose to stay behind and continue their employment at CNET would be the ones practicing self-preservation.

 

[dare2be]

No. Those who chose to stay behind and continue their employment at CNET would be the ones practicing self-preservation.

Stop speaking in generalities. Look at it this way. She leaves and CBS Corporate would just hire a yes-manager to replace her. She's in a lose-lose situation...at least she shows loyalty to her team and stays to "fight the fight" (her words). There is nothing more for her to preserve by staying, since a former editor-in-chief of CNET would not have any trouble getting a new job. In fact, with the now apparent limits placed on her current position, her preservation would be to get out of that stifling situation and go elsewhere.

 

[TheKrell]

She's the captain of a sinking ship...

I think you nailed that one. Perhaps nobody noticed but us, but I think CBS corporate shot themselves in the foot and seriously devalued the CNET name and years of work by it's team. The only way to recover IMHO is for CNET to get out from under their corporate overlords.

 

[riffjim4069]

Other than a few dozen techno geeks getting their panties in a twist, CBS' decision to eliminate Dish from awards consideration for their violating CBS Copyrights is something they are entited to do. My only complaint is that Dish never should have been eligible for an award.

 

[rjruby]

Does CBS accept Dish advertising?

 

[dfergie]

Jim, they are not "violating" any copyrights any more than you or anyone else with a dvr is doing, that genie has been out of the bottle since the late 70's when the VCR was introduced... It was CNET's award to give, Big Brother Les overstepped his bounds and wiped out any credibility CNET might have from now on.

 

[sparc]

here's a good article about why this will blow over for CNET pretty quickly... after all this is just gadget journalism...

http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/14/whats-next-for-cnet-after-the-dish-debacle/

 

[TheKrell]

here's a good article about why this will blow over for CNET pretty quickly... after all this is just gadget journalism... http://techcrunch.com/2013/01/14/whats-next-for-cnet-after-the-dish-debacle/

I think the author just made up that term. Anyhow, I don't get the same take-away message that you did.

I spoke to someone who has been hanging around the CNET staffers and they’re mostly disgusted. They’re sitting at their desks wounded by this mess. They’re good people who have been embarrassed to the core by bad people.

They're more than simply embarrassed. Their credibility is now in question; their words devalued. At least one writer had the integrity to leave, but I can well imagine in this economy many more would like to, but can't. Yet.