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Tag: CBS News

  • Activision Blizzard Employees Vote to Form a Union

    Activision Blizzard Employees Vote to Form a Union

    In a first for a large US video game studio, Activision Blizzard employees have voted on unionization.

    Activision Blizzard is currently being acquired by Microsoft. Prior to the deal being announced, however, the company was rocked with accusations of sexual harassment and discrimination. In view of its past, it’s little wonder employees are looking to unionize, with CBS News reporting employees have cast their votes and are waiting for the results.

    It doesn’t appear the effort encompasses all employees, but is focused on a small group of QA testers in the company’s Raven Software division. Activision Blizzard was critical of the scope of the vote, as the company had wanted it to include a wider range of Raven employees. Had it been successful, the number of votes in favor of unionization would likely have been diluted by a larger pool of potential voters.

    “We believe that an important decision that will impact the entire Raven Software studio of roughly 350 employees should not be made by fewer than 10% of Raven employees,” the company said.

  • Judge Strikes Down California Law Requiring Women on Company Boards

    Judge Strikes Down California Law Requiring Women on Company Boards

    Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis has struck down a California law that required companies to appoint up to three women to their boards.

    California passed the law after other measures failed to address the disparity on boards. Even when it was passed, however, its future was tenuous at best. Experts said the law would be difficult to defend, and it has now been struck down as unconstitutional.

    According to CBS News, the law’s constitutionality was tested by conservative legal group Judicial Watch. The group claimed the law violated California’s equal protect law by enforcing a gender-based quota. The law also included significant fines for companies that failed to comply, although evidence emerged that government officials knew there was likely no legal authority to actually enforce the fines written into the law.

    Judge Duffy-Lewis agreed with Judicial Watch, but the law has already went a long way toward achieving its purpose. Since the law was introduced, the number of board seats filled by women in the state rose from 17& to more than 30%. In contrast, women hold 26% of board seats nationally.

  • California Lawmaker Wants 4-Day Workweeks

    California Lawmaker Wants 4-Day Workweeks

    A California lawmaker has introduced a bill to mandate 4-day workweeks in the latest indication of how much the workspace has changed.

    The global pandemic forever changed the workplace, as companies the world over sent employees home to work remotely. Fast forward two years and many employees have resisted efforts to get them back in the office, having enjoyed the improved work-life balance that remote work has afforded.

    According to CBS News, California assembly member Cristina Garcia has introduced legislation that would mandate 32-hour, 4-day workweeks for all companies with 500 employees or more. Work past 32 hours would pay time-and-a-half.

    “After two years of being in the pandemic, we’ve had over 47 million employees leave their job looking for better opportunities,” Garcia said. “They’re sending a clear message they want a better work-life balance — they want better emotional and mental health, and this is part of that discussion.”

    While the proposed law would likely be welcomed by many employees, not everyone is a fan. The Chamber of Commerce has called it a “job killer.

    “Labor costs are often one of the highest costs a business faces,” Ashley Hoffman, the Chamber’s policy advocate, wrote to Evan Low, the bill’s cosponsor.

    “[B]usinesses often operate on thin profit margins and… the number of employees you have does not dictate financial success,” she wrote.

    Despite the reservations, as CBS News points out, 4-day workweeks have been adopted around the world, with many positive results. In fact, Dell is testing them in both the UK and the Netherlands.

  • GM’s Mary Barra Says Company Could Top Tesla in EV Market

    GM’s Mary Barra Says Company Could Top Tesla in EV Market

    GM CEO Mary Barra is throwing down the gauntlet, claiming her company will top Tesla in the EV market.

    Tesla is the current reigning champion of the EV market. The company was synonymous with EVs for years, with traditional automakers only recently beginning to pivot to EVs en masse.

    GM is one such company, and is investing heavily in the transition, recently announcing a $7 billion investment in several Michigan plants, in an effort to convert half of its North America productions to EVs by 2030.

    Barra, however, has her sights set on a much more ambitious goal: unseating Tesla as the top dog in the EV market.

    “We want to lead in EVs. Full stop,” Barra told CBS News’ Ben Tracy. “And so that’s where we’re aggressively moving.”

    A big part of that plan is making more affordable EVs, much cheaper than the company’s Hummer, or Tesla’s upcoming Cybertruck.

    “The Equinox EV crossover is going to start around $30,000,” she said. “We’re also working on a vehicle that will even be more affordable than that.”

    “Customers are starting to be much more interested in EVs but they want the vehicle they want,” she added.

    As CBS News points out, GM definitely has an uphill battle. Tesla has 70% of the US EV market, compared to GM’s 6%. Nonetheless, Barra appears undeterred.

    “When you look at how many vehicles we’re going to be able to launch across many segments, that’s why by mid-decade we think we’ll be in a leadership position,” she said.

    “Clearly, that’s what we’re working from a North America perspective and we’re just gonna keep going until we have global leadership as well.”

  • TikTok Now the Internet’s Most Popular Site, Edging Out Google

    TikTok Now the Internet’s Most Popular Site, Edging Out Google

    TikTok has taken the top spot as the world’s most popular website, beating out Google and Facebook.

    TikTok has been on a tear over the last few years, and was a big winner among social media platforms during t he pandemic. Not even attempts by the Trump administration to ban the app could blunt its growth. In fact, the platform recently crossed the 1 billion user mark.

    According to CBS News, TikTok is now the most popular site on the internet, and the most widely used social media platform.

    In contrast, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Apple rounded out the top five.

  • New York to Ban All Sales of New Gasoline Vehicles by 2035

    New York is joining California in plans to ban the sale of new gasoline vehicles by 2035.

    As countries and jurisdictions around the world race to combat climate change, vehicle emissions are one of the biggest targets. Electric and hybrid vehicles are already popular alternatives to fossil fuel-powered vehicles, and advances in battery technology are making them even more appealing.

    According to CBS News, in an effort to curb greenhouse emissions from automobiles, New York has passed a bill that will require all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state to be zero-emission by 2035. The bill also sets 2045 as the goal for medium and heavy-duty trucks to be zero-emission “where feasible.”

    The new law, in combination with California’s, will account for a large part of the US automotive market and provide even more incentive for automakers to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.

  • AG Wants to Strengthen Policies for Obtaining Lawmaker Data

    AG Wants to Strengthen Policies for Obtaining Lawmaker Data

    US Attorney General Merrick Garland wants to strengthen policies for obtaining lawmaker data and has vowed swift action regarding recent revelations.

    A furor broke out when it was discovered that Trump administration prosecutors subpoenaed Apple in 2017 and 2018 for communications data for House Intelligence Committee Democrats, specifically Chairman Adam Schiff and Congressman Eric Swalwell.

    The subpoena covered data for a least a dozen individuals, including aides, family members and one minor, according to CBS News. To make matters worse, Apple was served with a gag order, preventing them from revealing the subpoenas until May 2021.

    The fallout has been swift and severe, with multiple lawmakers calling for investigations and explanations behind Trump’s Justice Department actions. Current AG Garland has vowed swift action and has launched an investigation into what took place.

    As I stated during my confirmation hearing, political or other improper considerations must play no role in any investigative or prosecutorial decisions. These principles that have long been held as sacrosanct by the DOJ career workforce will be vigorously guarded on my watch, and any failure to live up to them will be met with strict accountability. There are important questions that must be resolved in connection with an effort by the department to obtain records related to Members of Congress and Congressional staff. I have accordingly directed that the matter be referred to the Inspector General and have full confidence that he will conduct a thorough and independent investigation. If at any time as the investigation proceeds action related to the matter in question is warranted, I will not hesitate to move swiftly.

    AG Garland has also ordered a review of policies and procedures to ensure any future action is done within the guidelines of the separation-of-powers principle.

    In addition, and while that review is pending, I have instructed the Deputy Attorney General, who is already working on surfacing potentially problematic matters deserving high level review, to evaluate and strengthen the department’s existing policies and procedures for obtaining records of the Legislative branch. Consistent with our commitment to the rule of law, we must ensure that full weight is accorded to separation-of-powers concerns moving forward.

  • Smartwatches Can Serve As Early Coronavirus Detection

    Smartwatches Can Serve As Early Coronavirus Detection

    Smartwatches can do much more than count steps, with research showing they can detect coronavirus infections days before diagnosis.

    One of the keys to combatting coronavirus is early detection and diagnosis. The faster someone is diagnosed, the faster they can be quarantined and the less likely they are to spread the virus to others. Adequate testing has long been a major problem, making it difficult to get the pandemic under control. Adding to the challenge is COVID-19’s long incubation period, as well as the fact that patients can transmit the disease before they are visibly symptomatic.

    According to CBS News, researchers at Mount Sinai Health System in New York and Stanford University in California have shown that wearable devices — such as the Apple Watch, Fitbit and Garmin — can detect coronavirus before symptoms appear and even before tests can detect it.

    The key is in detecting minute changes in a wearer’s heart rate, skin temperature and other physiological markers. In particular, heart rate variability is a key factor. Heart rate variability measures the time between heartbeats, and is impacted by the state of a person’s immune system.

    “We already knew that heart rate variability markers change as inflammation develops in the body, and Covid is an incredibly inflammatory event,” Rob Hirten, assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai told CBS MoneyWatch. “It allows us to predict that people are infected before they know it.”

    The findings could be another important step in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, and will likely lead to a jump in wearables demand.

  • Latest Debt Collector Weapon: Unlimited Texting, Email and Instant Messaging

    Latest Debt Collector Weapon: Unlimited Texting, Email and Instant Messaging

    Individuals in debt should start preparing for a flood of unwanted texts, emails and social media messages from debt collectors.

    The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection has revised “Regulation F, which implements the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).” Unfortunately, the agency gave debt collectors exactly what they’ve been clamoring for for some time.

    According to the new rule, debt collectors will be able to send an unlimited number of emails, text messages and instant messages to debtors. To make matters worse, collectors are not required to get consent before flooding a debtor with messages. The only silver lining is that each message must contain a clear way to opt out.

    Needless to say, consumer advocacy groups are already denouncing the decision as falling short of protecting consumers, especially at a time when the pandemic has created economic strain on record a number of households.

    “Even though there are some wins in here, the bureau has really fallen short of protecting consumers,” said Yvette Garcia, litigation counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending, according to CBS News.

    “This is a terrible time to create more burdens for people who have debts. This certainly does not make it easier for them to recover from the economic hit of the pandemic.”

    The new rule is expected to go into effect in 2021.

  • U.S. Space Force Launches Military Satellite

    U.S. Space Force Launches Military Satellite

    The newest branch of the U.S. military carried out its first national security launch, sending a military communications satellite into orbit.

    According to CBS News, the $1.2 billion satellite is “the sixth and final relay station in a jam-resistant, blast-hardened constellation valued at more than $11 billion.” The goal of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite network is to provide encrypted communications around the globe, while being jam-proof. The network will be used by the U.S., UK, Canada and the Netherlands for strategic command and control communications, as well as conducting tactical missions. The AEHF satellites can also handle 10 times the amount of data as the relay stations they replace.

    “This is the nation’s only strategic and tactical protected comm satellite network,” said Mike Cacheiro, Lockheed Martin AEHF program manager. “It’s also the only system that survives through a near nuclear burst and can provide communications through environments that other comm systems could not.

    “So on a really bad day, you really want to have this system in place,” he continued.

  • Ring Is a Case Study In Bad Privacy Policy

    Ring Is a Case Study In Bad Privacy Policy

    Ring has been in the news for its ongoing struggles with privacy issues. Its latest response, not to mention its approach in general, could serve as a case study of what not to do.

    Ring was first in the news over a number of incidents where individuals were able to hack the cameras, spy on and interact with the owners. Following that, VICE tested Ring’s security and found it was abysmal. The nail in the coffin was the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s (EFF) investigation that showed Ring was sharing a load of identifiable information with third-parties. The worst part is that users were not notified of what data was being collected and shared, let alone given a way to control or opt-out of the collection.

    Now CBS News is reporting that “although it confirmed that it shares more data with third parties than it previously told users, the company said in a statement that it contractually limits its partners to use the data only for ‘appropriate purposes,’ including helping Ring improve its app and user experience.”

    Essentially, the company is saying “yes, we got caught doing something we shouldn’t have been doing, but you should totally trust us that we’re doing it responsibly.”

    Ring’s troubles and their response should be a lesson to every company that deals with customers’ private data: A strong commitment to privacy should NEVER be an afterthought, add-on or damage control. In an era when hackers are eager to take advantage of weak data policies, when companies look to profit from their customers’ data and when an interconnected world means that a single breach can have far-reaching consequences—privacy must be built-in from the ground up.

    The fact that it should especially be built-in from the ground up in a service that is designed specifically to protect user privacy and security should go without saying. However, since Ring obviously needed someone to say it, the company should stand as an example of what not to do when it comes to protecting customer privacy.

  • Christina Koch Sets Record For Longest Spaceflight By Woman

    Christina Koch Sets Record For Longest Spaceflight By Woman

    Christina Koch checked off another milestone in her NASA career, taking the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman, according to CBS News.

    The previous record holder, Peggy Whitson, spent 288 consecutive days in space, and still holds the overall U.S. record of nearly 666 days over five flights. Koch, as of December 28, has spent 289 consecutive days in space and is expected to reach 328 days by the time she returns to Earth in early February.

    “It’s a huge honor,” Koch told ‘CBS This Morning.’ “Peggy is a heroine of mine who’s also been kind enough to mentor me through the years. You know … it’s not so much how many days you’re up here, but what you do with each of those days. That reminds me to bring my best every single day.”

    Along the way, Koch also was part of the first all-female spacewalk on October 18, when she and Jessica Meir “ventured outside to replace a faulty battery charge-discharge unit. It was the first EVA by two women in the 54 years since the late Soviet cosmonaut Alexey Leonov carried out history’s first spacewalk in 1965.”

    With a newfound focus on space, this is an important milestone for the history books.

  • Google Faces Government Scrutiny Over “Project Nightingale” and Patient Privacy

    Google Faces Government Scrutiny Over “Project Nightingale” and Patient Privacy

    On the heels of news that Google has partnered with Ascension to collect data on millions of American patients, CBS News is reporting that government officials are opening an inquiry into the deal.

    Ascension is the second largest chain of hospitals and healthcare facilities in the U.S. The program, “Project Nightingale,” which began last year, provides Google with detailed information on patients in 21 states, including names, dates of birth, lab results, diagnoses, hospitalization records and more. Together, the information gives Google a patient’s complete health record. Google is using the information to design AI-based tools to assist in patient diagnostics.

    Despite the fact the agreement is likely legal under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, Google is facing backlash in the wake of reports on the project. Even Jim Cramer, co-founder of TheStreet.com, questioned the wisdom of Google’s actions, saying the company “did things we regard as being unauthorized by some, so therefore a U.S. Attorney or someone is going to look into it….The country is hyper-sensitive to what Google does and Facebook does. So why aren’t they a little more thoughtful?”

    Google’s own reaction to the backlash has done little to improve the situation, with a cloud executive penning the initial blog responding to the story, rather than any of the health-care professionals on the company’s payroll. In addition, as CNBC reports, Google’s secrecy and use of cryptic code-names only adds fuel to the flames of suspicion that the company is up to something underhanded. As a result, the Department of Health and Human Services is launching an inquiry into Project Nightingale.

    Whatever the outcome, there can be no denying that Project Nightingale represents another privacy misstep for Google, right as the company is trying to expand into other privacy-sensitive industries and markets.

  • Misty Copeland: Only African-American Soloist With The American Ballet Theatre Still Feels She Must Prove Herself

    Misty Copeland, the only African-American soloist with the American Ballet Theatre, is busy performing in the holiday perennial, Stravinsky’s The Nutcracker, with the world-renowned dance company in New York City. Despite all of her accomplishments, the dancer says still feels as if she has something to prove.

    The 32-year-old began dancing as an escape from a tumultuous childhood growing up in California — at times homeless — with her five siblings and her mother, who married and remarried four times.

    “Whenever there was chaos in my house, whether it was arguing, being in a cramped space with all of us kids and screaming, I found an empty space where I could just put music on and move,” Copeland said in an interview with Anthony Mason for CBS Sunday Morning.

    Copeland, who recently released her memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, began studying ballet at 13. Her first break came at 18, when she began dancing for the American Ballet Theatre, which was also a revelation for the young dancer.

    “And that’s when I looked around me, and in a company of 80 dancers realized I was the only black woman. I felt completely isolated and alone, and that’s kind of when it all hit me,” she said.

    She became the first African-American soloist with the company in 2012, when she was given the lead in Stravinsky’s Firebird, followed by the principal role in Swan Lake, a part that has meant a great deal to Copeland.

    “It’s what ballet is,” she said. “It’s kind of reaching the pinnacle. It’s the most challenging in every way, but to be a black woman and to be given that role is even bigger.

    “I think it’s just changing the way people are viewing ballerinas,” she said. “You just typically think of this long, tall, white woman, Russian usually. Soft and willowy. And I’m not!”

    She has one more goal to achieve in her dancing career — to become the first African-American principal dancer with the company. As much as she longs for the title, doubts continue to plague her.

    “For me,” she said, “it’s just proving myself to people — that’s the most daunting.

    “That I belong. That I’m capable. That I’m a ballerina. That it doesn’t matter what color I am. It doesn’t matter what body type I have.”

    “Do you feel like you’re still proving this?” asked Mason.

    “I don’t think it will ever end,” she replied. “I think that it’s something that’s going to take the ballet world a very long time to get used to. And I don’t think its going to happen within my lifetime. But it’s starting.”

    To watch the entire CBS Sunday Morning interview, click here.

  • CBS Launches New 24-hour Online News Channel

    CBS Launches New 24-hour Online News Channel

    CBS is taking another step into the streaming arena.

    Today, the network is launching a 24/7 streaming news channel. Broadcast on its website, as well as a handful of its apps and other streaming devices, the new online-only channel is called CBSN. And in a rather ambitious move, CBS says that it will offer live, anchored news from 9am to midnight every single weekday.

    “CBSN is an important example of how CBS is able to leverage the unique strengths, talent and competitive advantages of its businesses to create exciting, highly competitive new services that meet evolving audience preferences for content consumption,” said Leslie Moonves, President and CEO, CBS Corporation. “There’s a tremendous opportunity on these platforms for a true round-the-clock newscast. We’re confident this service will appeal to both traditional news consumers and a whole new set of viewers.”

    If you go to CBSN right now, you’ll see live coverage with a sidebar on the left-hand side. This sidebar allows viewers to jump around the different stories of the past hour. CBS touts this at a “DVR-like” feature. At any time you can just go back to the live story.

    CBS says the new online station will also offer breaking news simulcasts and “additional content from a range of CBS sources including CBS News, CBS affiliate stations, CNET, CBSSports.com, Entertainment Tonight and more.”

    This is CBS’s second move toward cord-cutting in recent history. Just a few weeks ago, CBS launched All Access, its very own streaming platform.

  • Diabetes Management Goes ‘Bionic’ With New Device

    Researchers involved in two National Institutes of Health-funded studies have developed a ‘bionic’ pancreas that monitors a patient’s blood sugar levels and makes Type 1 diabetes more manageable.

    Created by researchers at Boston University and Massachusetts General Hospital, the experimental device is not actually an organ or something transplanted within a patient’s body.

    It involves three parts: two pager-sized hormone pumps, connected to the body through thin tubes inserted under the skin, and a small “brick,” combining an iPhone and continuous glucose monitor, to coordinate when each hormone should be delivered, co-author Edward Damiano of the Boston University Department of Biomedical Engineering told the USA Today.

    One pump delivers insulin, a hormone that lowers blood sugar, and the other deliver glucagon, which raises blood sugar. Glucagon is often used as a “rescue” drug or an antidote for insulin, as almost 10 percent of diabetes-related deaths are due to hypoglycemia, or accidental insulin overdose, according to CBS News.

    Results, which are published in the New England Journal of Medicine, that the device did a better job of monitoring and managing blood sugar levels than the patients who monitored levels on their own. The device kept blood sugar levels more consistent than those without the device.

    Additionally, researchers found patients in the study needed 37 percent fewer interventions for hypoglycemia.

    “What we’re building is a system that uses glucagon like a brake in a car,” Damiano told CBS News. “The insulin is like the accelerator and the glucagon is like the brake system.”

    The device would allow for people with Type 1 diabetes to do away with the standard stick-your-finger testing for blood sugar levels and manual insulin injections, as well as the worry of keeping up with unpredictable blood sugar changes after meals or daily activity.

    “It’s a fully autonomous soup-to-nuts solution,” Damiano said. “You enter the patient’s body weight. That is it, and then it just starts controlling blood sugar. Basically, it takes the burden of day-to-day diabetes management off your shoulders.”

    Image via YouTube

  • Lara Logan May Be Replaced On 60 Minutes

    Lara Logan May Be Replaced On 60 Minutes

    Lara Logan tarnished her integrity as a journalist and the 60 Minutes brand last year when she ran a piece on the Benghazi attack that was mostly made up of fabrications. She herself didn’t lie, but rather she made the mistake of using a source without first verifying its integrity. It was a rookie mistake and one that may cost her her job. The producers at CBS may even have a replacement ready.

    In a feature on Logan’s career and the events that led up to her Benghazi report, New York Magazine reports that Logan may be replaced by Clarissa Ward. The 34-year-old journalist currently works for CBS News as a foreign correspondent in London. Like Logan, Ward is multi-lingual, has experience covering wars and both have won awards for their original reporting. The only difference is that Ward is free of controversy.

    If Ward does replace Logan, what kind of journalist can we expect to take over 60 Minutes? Ward started off at at Fox News where she became assignment editor in 2004. In 2006, she up within Fox News as a field producer and foreign correspondent for the Middle East. In 2007, she joined ABC News and covered Russia. She then moved to Asia where she covered the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake in Japan.

    In 2011, she moved to CBS News where she covered stories in Asia and the Middle East. She received a Peabody Award for her coverage of the Syrian civil war. Her latest contributions to the network have been a fill-in host on CBS This Morning and occasional contributor to 60 Minutes.

    If you want some insight into the kind of person Ward is, here’s a talk she gave at Stony Brook University last year:

    Ward has not commented on the potential of her replacing Logan yet as she’s currently too busy covering the situation in Crimea:

    Judging by her reporting and her tweets from the ground, CBS has one hell of a foreign correspondent in Ward. It may be a waste to have her focus all of her efforts on 60 Minutes.

    Image via Clarissa Ward/Twitter

  • Lara Logan’s Return To “60 Minutes” Is Undecided

    Lara Logan, who took a leave of absence from 60 Minutes in November following what she called a “mistake”, apparently does not have a definite return-date to CBS News, and spokesman Kevin Tedesco has said they decline to comment on when she will return or what her status currently is with the network.

    Logan delivered a segment in October about Benghazi that included statements made by security officer Dylan Davies, and later his comments came into question by both the Washington Post and the New York Times. Those questions turned into an internal review by CBS News, which found that Davies’ statements differed greatly from the statement he gave to the FBI regarding an insurgent attack that killed four people. Logan later apologized for the segment, saying that they had “been misled, and that it was a mistake to include him in our report”, but when it was discovered that Davies was using the story in order to sell his book, the news exploded online and CBS News was quickly thrown into a tailspin, with at least one longtime member of 60 Minutes demanding that Logan be fired.

    But Logan kept her job, and some think it’s because she has been shown favoritism from her superiors.

    “She got everything she wanted, always, even when she was wrong, and that’s been going on since the beginning,” said a former CBS producer in New York Magazine.

    Now that the New York Magazine piece has gotten out, Logan is being dubbed “reckless” due to her eagerness to get the story, no matter what the cost. She also reportedly refused to adhere to the strict Islamic dress codes, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt to an Afghan election rally for Hamid Karzai.

    “The crews in London revolted. They thought she was dangerous and she was going to get somebody killed,” said a CBS exec.

    Now that the story has been spread around the web, some are doubtful that Logan will be able to keep her job, whether or not she was shown favoritism by executives.

    “If other outlets began looking hard into the story of just what went down at 60 Minutes — what led to an editorial disaster of that magnitude being allowed to make it to air — it might permanently taint Logan by revealing that her mistake was the result of her own recklessness,” wrote Chez Pazienza of The Daily Banter.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Sharyl Attkisson Resigns From CBS News

    CBS News’ investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has resigned, and the announcement was made in a tweet. According to a spokesperson for CBS, Attkisson is leaving the network to pursue other endeavors.

    For months, rumors have been circulating about Attkisson’s differences with the network. Last year, CBS News reported that the correspondent’s investigative pieces on Benghazi did not make The CBS Evening News with more regularity.

    Attkisson has been highly praised by conservatives for her aggressive reporting on Benghazi issues. She has also been having friction with the network, as she sees the network to be biased towards liberals. A CBS News source also said that Attkisson felt that she was being kept from the evening news due to political considerations. Some of her work on stories, such as “Operation Fast and Furious,” Benghazi, and Obamacare did not make it on The CBS Evening News, but were placed on the CBS News website.

    The investigative correspondent also made headlines when she declared that her computers have been hacked, and she said that it may be connected to her investigative work on the government. The network later confirmed that Attkisson’s computers were tampered with, but there was no mention of the ones responsible for the breach of privacy.

    According to reports, Attkisson is currently working on a book called Stonewalled: One Reporter’s Fight for Truth in Obama’s Washington that will be out in November. On her Twitter account, she has been prolific in expressing the means that Obama administration officials go through to get information on matters, such as the Benghazi attacks.

    Despite the ongoing clash between the correspondent and the news network, Attkisson said that her resignation from the network was amicable. In a statement, she said that it has been a great privilege working for CBS News and that she is sincerely grateful for the opportunities she has had with them.

    Sonya McNair, the spokesperson for CBS News, says that the news network appreciates the contributions that Attkisson has made, and that they wish her well.

    Image via Sharyl Attkisson, Twitter

  • Katie Couric Admits That Her Report On HPV Was Too Anti-Vaccine

    Having taken a fair amount of criticism from the media and the science community, Katie Couric says she regrets spending too much time talking about the rare adverse side effects from HPV vaccinations instead of acknowledging the HPV vaccine’s overwhelming success.

    On Tuesday the talk show host apologized in an opinion piece for the Huffington Post.

    “Last week we devoted several segments on my TV talk show to the issues surrounding the HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine. Learning about this relatively recent preventive measure is tremendously important, and I felt it was a subject well worth exploring.” Couric wrote. “We simply spent too much time on the serious adverse events that have been reported in very rare cases following the vaccine. More emphasis should have been given to the safety and efficacy of the HPV vaccines.”

    Couric’s program had insinuated that the HPV vaccine was far from being safe and featured spine chilling stories from two mothers that attributed negative experiences to the vaccine. One mother claimed the vaccine killed her daughter while another mother claimed the vaccine caused her daughter to experience nausea and fatigue. Couric’s report featured only one pro-vaccine guest – Dr. Mallika Marshall and thus appeared lopsided in its critique.

    Some critics such as Politico’s Tara Haelle, claimed that Couric resorted to “scaremongering” in an effort to boost her program ratings, while Time’s Alexandra Sifferlin compared Couric to Jenny McCarthy. McCarthy is a former Playboy model and co-host of  “The View” who has also been criticized for her anti-vaccine reporting. Los Angeles Times’ Michael Hiltzik disparaged Couric’s anti-vaccination report, saying “Daytime talk shows like Couric’s thrive on conflict and controversy, but injecting doubt and emotionalism into important medical discussions and removing science from the arena is playing with fire.”

    However, Couric said that it was never her intention to misrepresent medical and scientific facts. In fact, Couric has been a strong advocate for research related to disease. She did, however,  feel that problems caused by the HPV vaccine had to be highlighted.

    “As a journalist, I felt that we couldn’t simply ignore these reports. That’s why we had two mothers on the show who reported adverse reactions after their daughters had been vaccinated for HPV,” she wrote.

    Nonetheless, Couric acknowledged that the benefits of the HPV vaccine far outweigh its risks. She also admitted that she had both her daughters vaccinated for HPV.

    Is HPV Vaccine Safe?

    (image via Wikipedia)

  • Lara Logan Suspended For Erroneous ’60 Minutes’ Report

    CBS has suspended its news correspondent, Lara Logan for an erroneous 60 Minutes report about the attack on a US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, according to USA Today. Also suspended was the segment’s producer Max McClellan.

    CBS News chairman Jeff Fager regretted the incident saying that “the deception got through and it shouldn’t have.” Logan and McClellan had ran the interview in October with a security contractor known as Dylan Davies giving an eyewitness account of the deadly attack on the U.S mission  in Benghazi. The security guard told Logan that he had violated his employer’s orders to stay away from the compound and fought off a militant at the facility. Davies also said that he had seen U.S Ambassador, Christopher Stevens, who was one of four Americans killed in the attack, at a local hospital. FBI later discredited Davies after he told the FBI and his employer that he was in fact nowhere near the scene.

    Ms Logan later called it a mistake. The network acknowledged that more thorough investigations should have been done. After a review of the incident, CBS News director of standards Al Ortiz concluded that the mistake was preventable had Logan and McClellan utilized CBS News resources to authenticate the sources.  “It’s possible that reporters and producers with better access to inside FBI sources could have found out that Davies had given varying and conflicting accounts of his story,” Ortiz said

    “There is a lot to learn from this mistake for the entire organization,” said the chairman in an email communicated to the CBS News employees. “As executive producer, I am responsible for what gets on the air. I pride myself in catching almost everything, but this deception got through, and it shouldn’t have.”

    (image via Wikipedia)