Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

CBS Broadcasting, Inc. (CBS) is a media conglomorate that owns and operates large radio and television networks along with a number of other businesses including billboards and outdoor advertising, an internet presence, and book publishing (Simon and Schuster). The initials stand for "Columbia Broadcasting System", although that name is no longer used.

CBS's decades-old good reputation and ratings have dwindled since its once powerful and respected news organization aired the Evening News with respected anchor Walter Cronkite. The network's notorious fiasco concerning its news employees' forging of George W. Bush's National Guard service records during the 2004 presidential election campaign, which led to the retirement of Cronkite's replacement as anchor Dan Rather, tarnished CBS's image. Also, the broadcaster often airs morally offensive movies, obscene rap music videos, and even commercials that push the cultural and moral "envelope." In politics, CBS's liberal tendencies are evidenced by its news reporters' and show hosts' barely concealed biases in favor of President Barack Obama and his policies and against conservatives and Republicans. CBS has continued to air the highly offensive Late Show with David Letterman, even after Letterman contrived a joke that made fun of the fictional statutory rape of 2008 vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's 14-year-old daughter.

CBS's billboard company is the largest in the USA, with $2 billion in annual revenues, and it exercises censorship of messages that contradict its political bias. Recently, WorldNetDaily founder Joseph Farah was not allowed to place the message "Where's The Birth Certificate?" on CBS-owned signage. In response, Farah said CBS is undeserving of First Amendment protections.

See also

• Bob Simon