
CNET Reporter Quits Over Editorial Meddling by CBS - davewiner
http://adage.com/article/media/cnet-reporter-quits-editorial-meddling-cbs/239165/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+AdvertisingAge/LatestNews+%28Advertising+Age+-+Latest+News%29
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w1ntermute
There's an exclusive piece from The Verge on how the Hopper won "Best in Show"
at CES from the CNET staff, but they were forced to remove it from the choices
and hold another vote: [http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/14/3874682/exclusive-
cbs-forc...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/14/3874682/exclusive-cbs-forced-
cnet-editors-to-recast-vote-after-hopper-win)

~~~
mediumdeviation
And CNET's side of the story corroborates with the Verge's report:
[http://news.cnet.com/8301-30677_3-57563877-244/the-2013-best...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-30677_3-57563877-244/the-2013-best-
of-ces-awards-cnets-story/)

I suppose the only reason why she could reveal all of that _now_ is because
CBS' PR team is in damage control now

> Ultimately, we were told that we must use the official statement and that we
> must follow corporate policy to defer all press requests to corporate
> communications.

------
voidlogic
`A spokeswoman for CBS Interactive said CNET retains editorial independence in
covering "actual news."`

I'm sure nothing makes a tech reporter want to stay around like being told
their reporting is not "actual news" and thus is not worthy of editorial
independence.

~~~
crusso
What is "actual news"? My only guess is that it's news that does not
editorialize... in which case, what is "editorial independence" in that
context?

In the context of CNET, if opinions on technology isn't their actual news,
they got nothin'.

I'm confused.

~~~
fennecfoxen
I believe there _is_ a meaningful distinction which can be drawn between
"prizes that CNET employees might award" and "writing about the rest of the
technology world". That said, I suspect that if you're drawing a metaphorical
line, than this is the wrong place to draw it.

~~~
Steko
I can tell you that Leslie Moonves just sold a lot more Hoppers via the
Streisand effect than a CNET Best of CES award would have.

------
nestlequ1k
CNET has historically had issues with this (even before they were bought by
CBS). Jeff Gerstmann being fired for a bad review is a good example, which
caused nearly half of the top editors at Gamespot to quit.
[http://kotaku.com/376217/the-man-who-fired-jeff-gerstmann-
fr...](http://kotaku.com/376217/the-man-who-fired-jeff-gerstmann-from-
gamespot-has-been-sacked)

------
andrewfelix
Hilariously contradictory response from CBS:

 _"CBS has nothing but the highest regard for the editors and writers at CNET,
and has managed that business with respect as part of its CBS Interactive
division since it was acquired in 2008. This has been an isolated and unique
incident in which a product that has been challenged as illegal, was removed
from consideration for an award. The product in question is not only the
subject of a lawsuit between Dish and CBS, but between Dish and nearly every
other major media company as well. CBS has been consistent on this situation
from the beginning, and, in terms of covering actual news, CNET maintains 100%
editorial independence, and always will. We look forward to the site building
on its reputation of good journalism in the years to come."_

------
toufka
Didn't know what Hopper was:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopper_%28DVR%29#Hopper>

>A DVR with three tuners and 2 TB of space, half of which can be used to
record television, the other half is for video on demand. A Hopper feature,
called Auto Hop, enables customers to view these programs without commercials,
subject to time restrictions.

------
pla3rhat3r
This is great but this will just continue to happen. Whether it's CBS, Fox,
ABC, NBC, Viacom, Comcast. They all do it. It's unfair but there's very little
anyone can do to stop it. I'm glad someone stepped up but there's just no way
to keep this from happening. The point is, the Hopper is probably a great
product. It doesn't need a mediocre award for people to figure that out. A
good product stands on its own merits.

~~~
rhizome
This censoring by CBS is 1000x better advertisement for Hopper than a silly
CNet award.

~~~
criley
I had never heard of "Hopper" until this censorship! Thanks CBS, now I know
that Hopper is brilliant and enough of a threat to have media companies
sweating!

Go Dish! The censorship validates the legitimacy of the idea!

------
cbs
CNET doesn't seem to have the greatest track record with editorial
independence. Wasn't there a big blowup at gamespot a few years ago too?

~~~
dubfan
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GameSpot#Gerstmann_dismissal>

GameSpot terminated their Editorial Director after giving a game a less-than-
glowing review. However, this occurred before CBS purchased CNET.

~~~
spjwebster
Interestingly, Gerstmann went on to found GiantBomb [1] as part of Shelby
Bonnie's (CNET co-founder) Whiskey Media group with a whole bunch of ex-
GameSpot people who left in the wake of Gerstmann's dismissal. GiantBomb was
recently acquired by CBS and is now part of CBSi, with Gerstmann and the rest
of the GiantBomb editorial and production team intact.

Gerstmann and GameSpot's John Davidson spoke quite candidly about the
acquisition [2] at the time, including the thorny issue of Gerstman's previous
departure from GameSpot. Makes for an interesting watch if you remember when
the original scandal broke over the original Kane & Lynch review.

[1] <http://www.giantbomb.com>

[2] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GagFPnSG0j4>

~~~
MartinCron
And Giant Bomb seems to be doing really well under CBSi. I was really nervous
when I heard about the purchase last year, but the quality has been
consistently great.

------
scobeav
Elinor Mills, a former CNET reporter, speaks out on the situation based on her
seven years at the company:

[http://www.batemanbanter.com/2013/01/cnet-in-turmoil-
after-g...](http://www.batemanbanter.com/2013/01/cnet-in-turmoil-after-greg-
sandoval-quits-over-editorial-interference/)

------
epistasis
Wow, thanks CBS! I hadn't really considered DishTV, but this looks so much
better than the Comcast crap (something like 5 HD channels via a clunky, user-
hostile, and extremely noisy set top box) that I think I'm probably going to
switch.

The US needs to reform their regulations so that there's always at least two
cable companies, and hopefully many more, in a given area. If that means that
the municipality buys the lines and rents them out, then so be it. But
vertical integration is killing the market, and we need a market more than we
need to be lining the pockets of conglomerates.

~~~
joezydeco
Without sounding like a shill, Echostar's hardware has gotten better and
better over the years. I've been through a couple of their DVRs and they're
really solid.

------
fleitz
CBS are pros at getting lots of free media coverage for their competitors.

~~~
jvrossb
The product is so awesome customers can't have it! I bet they sold a lot of
Hoppers today...

------
darkarmani
This is a really nice Streisand effect for Hopper.

What is wrong with autoskip? If you can time-shift your show, why can't you
skip around it however you like?

------
OGinparadise
Expected. CBS makes all their money via ads so that's their golden egg,
everything else can be used to defend that. CBS is also mature so there's no
50% growth y2y, defending their turf is paramount.

Just as some search engines favor their advertisers in rankings, at least
indirectly.

