CBS Evening News under fire for ditching ethics handbook for 'empty-brain' patriotic vow

[turbinetree]

By Matthew Chapman
Published January 2, 2026 7:34 PM ET

CBS Evening News unveiled a five-point mission statement on Friday, which the newscast claims will replace its previous 38-page handbook on journalistic ethics — but one particular element of the statement drew intense scrutiny.

"We love America. And we make no apologies for saying so," stated the section. "Our foundational values of liberty, equality and the rule of law make us the last best hope on Earth. We also believe in Franklin's famous line about America as a republic — if we can keep it. We aim to do our part every night: One way to think about our show is as a daily conversation about exactly where we are as a country and where we are going."

The oddly jingoistic nature of the mission statement prompted immediate concern and criticism, given that CBS News was just given a new right-wing boss, Bari Weiss, as part of a Trump administration-approved merger, and the network also just blocked reporting on torture being experienced by Trump-deported migrants at a foreign mega prison.

https://www.rawstory.com/cbs-news/

I can't wait to see what the ratings show after this ............do you really love AMERICA or does your billionaire owner think money is love...............maybe you should revisit American history to see what money did to this country.....and while your at it, you and your maga gang might want to reread what Thomas Paine thought about journalism......its real simple.............

[bucolic_frolic]

1. So CBS Evening News is not a journalism show, it's a conversation that THEY want to have?

WTF does that even mean? This is Right Wing Ditz machine. They have destroyed themselves. The crash will be epic.

[Cha]

2. Bullshit. You Don't "love America".. Or

you wouldn't Chummy crummy with Neo Nazis in the WH.

Don't Gaslight us, Appeasers.

[B.See]

10. Exactly. Trump stooge takes over at CBS,

has already started suppressing reports that makes Trump look bad, and all of a sudden, they need a new mission statement?


.... a deliberately vague piece of bullshit REICH-wash if ever there was one.

[Cha]

15. I Hope that Gaslit C BS Propaganda

Conglomerate Goes Down the Drain.

[Martin68]

3. Craven cowards. Bootlickers.

[RainCaster]

4. I'm done with CBS News

Our local CBS affiliate is a Sinclair station, so I don't watch the local news either on that station.

[Uncle Joe]

5. They love America in the same way that Ma Barker loved her sons from the movie Bloody Mama starring Shelly Winters

Bloody Mama is a 1970 American exploitation crime film directed by Roger Corman, starring Shelley Winters in the title role, and Bruce Dern, Don Stroud, Robert Walden, Alex Nicol and Robert De Niro in supporting roles. It is loosely based on the real-life story of Ma Barker, who is depicted as a corrupt, mentally-disturbed mother who encourages and organizes the criminality of her four adult sons in Depression-era southern United States. Corman considered the film one of his favorites in his filmography.[4]

(snip)



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Mama

Call it what you want, but it's not love.

Thanks for the thread turbintree

[Warpy]

6. No surprise there

Right wing goons have wanted to destroy theri news department ever since the Tet Offensive in 1968 and Walter Cronkite blurted out "What the hell is going on over theree? I thought we were winning the war," just cluing in Middle America that they were being lied to by nearly everybody in the government. CBS ruined their nasty war in SE Asia.

They blinked afterthey tried it with Couric doing guest interviews, the first one with Limbaugh. When viewers changed the channel and advertiserts fled, that ended abruptly. That twit Weiss is going to leave them with even worse things, like years of civil rights lawsuits because of just who she's been firing while hanging on to conservative white males.

It won't make any difference, the viewers won't be coming back, not this time. Real journalism was being smothered by corporate monopolies and has moved online.

[B.See]

13. Precisely. And here's a little more re

what you wrote about Weiss' selective firings (and similar trends):

Black Journalists Are Being Laid Off At An Alarming Rate - Black Enterprises

[KPN]

7. What the fuck?!

The MSM, large corporations if not all, and mega-millionaires let alone most if not all billionaires are insidious and evil. Do they come to this naturally, or were those traits a pre-requisite?

[RVN VET71]

8. let me be among the first 1,000 or so to point out that

CBS is now a shameless, fascist, ANTI-AMERICAN, tool.

I only hope its viewership dwindles as quickly and severely as does the level of entertainment at the Trump Center.

[calimary]

9. Looks like those longtime "Tiffany network" talking points are a thing of the past.

And that’s a damn shame.

Yesterday’s news titans, who cared deeply about their credibility and their role in serving the people honestly and with no commercial angles, are long gone. Now, sadly enough, the only thing that’s important anymore is ratings and, inevitably, the big money that those ratings can attract.

[Bristlecone]

11. By the sound of it, they want to carry the Fox mantle

[Wanderlust988]

12. In other words, they won't talk negative against Trump. It'll just be jingoistic stories for 30 min each night.

[USS_Dauntless]

14. Not patriotism.

NATIONALISM. A real patriot does not lick boots.

[maxrandb]

16. MAGAts talking about liberty, equality and the rule of law

is like Jeffrey Dahmer talking about his risotto recipe.

[UTUSN]

18. When they say "reform" ...

[BidenRocks]

17. Here is my patriotic view of the new cBS

CLICK!

[kairos12]

19. Sounds like it was

written by Bagdad Bob or Axis Sally.

[area51]

20. Da fuq?

"... make us the last best hope on Earth."

Like hell it does, especially under this current administration.

[summer_in_TX]

21. Good God, my retired CBS friend will be tearing his hair out.

When our local community radio nonprofit was waiting to hear if we would be awarded a construction permit to build a low power FM radio station, we began a program advisory committee to select programs from submitted proposals from the community. Before we even could start, Keith, a retired CBS cameraman who volunteered for that committee insisted that we develop an ethics framework. He was so proud of the one CBS lived by during his working career.

Having the framework made sense to us too, so we spent many meetings crafting one. (We looked at several models, but crafted our own.) Much of it applied to news gathering, including investigative journalism) and dissemination – and it turns out that new community radio stations do not generally do any news because credible news gathering requires a whole team who spend enough hours that they should be paid to make it happen right. News editors, fact checkers, writers, etc. Our station announces a lot of community events, but rarely breaks a news story. We interview two area mayors on a weekly basis and other officials working for the well being and safety of the community, as well as what the schools and local nonprofits are working on. Almost everyone on the air is a volunteer, except for our GM and a production person.

But I'm very glad we took the time to be guided by Keith to ensure we have a written ethics policy, and have had one since the beginning. Even though usually not used directly, the principles behind it have shaped our station. We've been fully licensed to be on the air for ten years next month. I suspect our ethical approach has had a lot to do with the community support we have gotten.