ABC Producer Tapped As CBS Bureau Chief

[helderheid]

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 12, 2007; Page C07

CBS News has landed a new Washington bureau chief by raiding the competition.

People familiar with the situation said yesterday that Christopher Isham, ABC's chief of investigative projects, has accepted the job and that an announcement is planned soon. Isham succeeds Janet Leissner, who asked for a reassignment several months ago and will assume a consulting role at CBS, with an emphasis on politics. Spokesmen for both networks would not comment.

Isham was recruited through what has become an alumni association at CBS. Paul Friedman, a CBS senior vice president, and Rick Kaplan, executive producer of the "CBS Evening News," are both ABC veterans who encouraged Isham to take the job.

Isham, 52, will be the latest member of a new management team trying to boost Katie Couric's newscast out of the ratings cellar. ABC tried to keep Isham from defecting but had no comparable management position to offer him.

CBS's choice suggests the network wants a different kind of bureau chief, one with a deep Rolodex and a natural instinct for tackling tough stories. But some at the network are questioning the decision to bring in a producer from another network with no Washington experience on the eve of a high-interest presidential campaign.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/11/AR2007071102289.html

[Robbien]

"but some say"

is the point in the article where it is best to stop reading. Propaganda ahead it screams.

[Justitia]

1. They might have buyer's remorse if his expertise as "ABC's chief of investigative projects"

is something they paid top dollar for.

After all, it was ABC's crack Investigative Unit that couldn't find a US Senator in the whorehouse when he was handed to them on a silver platter.

Seems like they should have hired Larry Flynt.

[helderheid]

2. Yet they nailed Foley - weird. Why the one, not the other?

An ABC producer since 1978, Isham helped build the award-winning investigative unit under correspondent Brian Ross, which last fall broke the story of then-congressman Mark Foley sending sexually explicit messages to male House pages. The story led to Foley's resignation.

[Justitia]

4. Good question. Maybe they thought Foley's story was about to break somewhere else

& wanted to jump in front of it. Or, they sensed that Foley wasn't as tightly connected, so he was a "safer" scandal.

Interesting that they claimed some proprietary relationship over the DC Madam stuff, like they wanted to fence it in.
Now they look stupid, incompetent or complicit - take your pick.

Our MSM Big 3 are so incredibly pathetic these days.

[dflprincess]

3. When will they admit that the problem with the

"CBS News with Katie Couric" is not with the bureau chief?