CBS - THROWING MUDD AT TV NEWS

Legendary TV journalist Roger Mudd, who spent nearly 20 years at CBS's Washington bureau, expressed his dismay Wednesday over a recent New York Times report that CBS is considering outsourcing some of its newsgathering activities to CNN. Appearing on NPR's Talk of the Nation, Mudd, who went on to co-anchor NBC Nightly News, said that if CBS embarked on a policy of farming out news coverage to CNN the news organization might eventually end up producing Face the Nation and 60 Minutes and little else. "That would be the sad end" of CBS News, he remarked. Appearing on the same program, Face the Nation moderator Bob Schieffer maintained that such a scenario "is not going to happen." He insisted that there had only been some talks about CBS and CNN "sharing some resources in Baghdad" and that the talks ended inconclusively. He insisted that the network would "stick with its own reporters through the foreseeable future." But Schieffer's attempt to spike the rumors was challenged by Mudd. "Who told you that?" he asked. Schieffer, however, declined to name his informant and responded that his remarks represented "pretty much what we were told inside the company." Asked if he would be willing to take over the anchor desk at the CBS Evening News again if Katie Couric stepped down, Schieffer replied, "I haven't been asked," then added, "I think that would be a question I would not want to discuss."

17/04/2008