who was head of Viacom. Also included were CBS correspondents, Mr. Morley Safer, Leslie Stahl, and Katie Couric. Below is that e-mail, edited slightly for this article format:
THIRTY YEARS AGO, CBS made fun of the Taft family of Ohio--and of me--in the series, WKRP in Cincinnati.
Then, four years after that series premiered, Dr. Alan Greenspan plagiarized a paper I'd written on social security demographics . . . .
Although they certainly seemed to be aware of my existence, my friends at CBS didn't seem to want to report that Greenspan had plagiarized my paper. That was understandable because, if faith in the integrity of the Federal Reserve were to have been undermined, "something terrible" might have happened. CBS News faithfully kept Greenspan's secret for more than 25 years, slightly longer than the entire reign of Josef Stalin. During that time I endured a state of semi-slavery.
But now "something terrible" has happened anyway.
CBS is losing billions and its stock is in the basement.
At this time, maintaining a belief in the integrity of the US Federal Reserve may be less important for the public welfare than fully exposing the problems that are caused by having so much power concentrated in that one institution--and the corruption and extreme incompetence that have developed as a result.
May I ask this question: "At this point, what could actually be at risk by daring to criticizing the Fed?"
What could be at risk, for example, for CBS? For CBS, billions have been lost already.
I'm a great admirer of the legacy of the late, former CBS head, Mr. William Paley. During his long tenure, CBS had an extremely good reputation as a source of news reporting. Such a reputation brought respect to the network, respect which has perhaps now been diminished, along with share price.
Is it too late for my friends at CBS to tell the truth about Alan Greenspan? While reporting by CBS on this particular matter hasn't been up to the standard once maintained by Mr. Paley, rival network NBC is much more vulnerable to criticism. NBC (which also has other enormous ethical problems, as explained on my site) was clearly in Greenspan's pocket.
A prominent NBC national reporter even married Greenspan. To say that NBC has disgraced itself is a vast understatement.
So if my friends at CBS could muster the temerity to finally tell the truth about Dr. Greenspan, a very harsh light indeed would be cast on rival, NBC.
Naturally such action might be deeply painful to my friends at CBS. CBS and NBC reporters are brothers and sisters in a journalistic community. So perhaps I shouldn't suggest that they should be forced to compete against one another. But I do think that the public welfare would be served in that way.
The question, then, might be worthy of a high-powered CBS drama: does the tender, affectionate loyalty of the brotherhood and sisterhood of US national TV news reporters, on the one hand, outweigh the US national interest, on the other? (The recent reported quarterly loss of $12.5 billion by CBS should also be factored in.)
Conclusion of article
My life as a show business outcast