Divorced from the News

Last fall we switched the automatic recording of the evening news from ABC to CBS. I watched CBS once or twice a week but grew appalled at how anchor Scott Pelley interspersed his anti-Trump opinions with the news. (He once led with "It has been a busy day for Presidential statements divorced from reality"--see video below.) And note: I would have been perfectly okay with an opinion section, identified as such, that Mr. Pelley inserted anywhere in the program.



When Hawaii judge Derrick Watson placed a preliminary injunction against the President's executive order on travel and refugees, the judge got pushback from Trump supporters, some of whom referred to Hawaii's remoteness from possible dangers posed by refugees:

They cited statistics from the State Department’s Refugee Admissions Office that showed since 2010 that just 20 out of more than 530,000 refugees settled in the United States since 2010 were brought to Hawaii for resettlement.

I still remember Scott Pelley's closing remark, something like "last time I checked, the flag had 50 stars." Wow. This is what people say when they are absolutely confident that listeners agree, not only with the policy position but also with the snideness of the remark.

Today's headline: "Scott Pelley to Step Down as Anchor of ‘CBS Evening News" [bold added]

Mr. Pelley has been anchoring the “CBS Evening News” since June 2011. The broadcast has been in third place behind NBC’s “Nightly News” and ABC’s “World News Tonight” and unlike the network’s morning show, hasn’t made gains in the ratings for some time.

Apparently, CBS has a limit on how long it can remain divorced from reality.