CBS News president David Rhodes sent a scathing memo to the staffers of "The Early Show" on Monday for not highlighting the network's scoops enough.
In the memo--which was also sent to the producers of "60 Minutes," "CBS Sunday Morning" and "48 Hours," Rhodes touted what he called CBS News' "great weekend," including scoops on murder suspect Casey Anthony and a blockbuster "60 Minutes" report on author Greg Mortenson's questionable relationship with the truth.
Rhodes wondered. "where are these stories this morning? Not on the 'Early Show.' Why not?" He slapped down the show's producers for doing "exactly what our competitors did today," and urged them to "get with it."
The morning after the memo leaked, the New York Post reported that it is just one of the signs of turmoil at CBS News. The paper said that "Early Show" producer David Friedman, who was a chief target of the memo, is "already looking for a new job." If Friedman leaves, he would follow his father, Paul Friedman, who was ousted as the no. 2 executive at CBS News in February.
The full memo appears below:
CBS News had a great weekend. And a bad Monday morning.
Sunday we broke major news on Greg Mortenson, co-author of "Three Cups of Tea." Turns out the uplifting bestseller may not be entirely true--and his charity's finances are troubling.
Also on 60 Minutes: a revealing look at the problem of sex assault on campus told through one woman's ordeal at the University of the Pacific, and Paul Allen's true feelings about Bill Gates as discussed in a sit-down supporting his new memoir.
On cable at least one network is leading with Rep. Paul Ryan's comments on Face--but we didn't run them at all today.
That's not all. Jerry Seinfeld talked to us... we learned what Molly Ringwald is doing in her 40s.... one of our own people got a star on the Hollywood walk of fame...
And Saturday night we heard the planned defense of Casey Anthony. Her explosive case goes to trial in May.
Where are these stories this morning? Not on the Early Show. Why not?
This really isn't a case of not knowing what the organization is doing. We held a meeting Friday discussing what each program had planned--in which every single one of these stories was discussed. And of course each of these stories ran on our most popular programs. All rated highly, so an audience clearly found them. Some have generated follow-up coverage in other media.
Not our own show, though. We did exactly what our competitors did today. Weather roundup, check. Air traffic control, check. Holly Bobo--check, at precisely the moment everyone else covered Holly Bobo. Why not our reporting on Casey Anthony when others did Holly Bobo? Why not the Mortenson bombshell in the open?
Many of you on the Early Show have asked for clarity on what we want. Several times we have talked about sustained coverage of stories which are our own--I mentioned this several times the week after our story on Orlando's motel homeless. Let's get with it. Where's our reporting? Make sure it's in our show.