Bob Schieffer
A new FAIR Action Alert (8/14/13) asks where Face the Nation‘s dissenters are on NSA surveillance. Please leave copies of your messages to CBS, or comments on the alert, in the comments thread below.
Action Alert: Face the Nation Needs NSA Debate
Your coverage of the NSA scandal is laughable. Clapper lied to Congress. Why aren’t you calling for his indictment? All you seem to be able to do is give air time to people who support the NSA spying program. Not very balanced folks.
Bob Schieffer’s extremely biased attitude toward Snowden expressed since June does not mean, as a viewer, I also have to endure a completely biased “panel” as well to talk about the NSA surveillance programs. Are you guys aware of the onslaught of criticism since 9-11 toward the mainstream media in general not living up to your duty to be a check and balance to government? That the fourth estate is designed to have an oppositional stance toward government for the good of its citizens? How can this kangaroo panel that simply shilled for the White House prove these critics wrong especially when polls have shown the majority of the American people have concerns over the NSA surveying American citizens? Why are you as a corporate media enterprise shielding the government and standing in opposition to the majority of Americans by putting up a false panel? Could you have at least one single person who is a constitutional scholar, who is not or was not associated with the government who believes as the majority of Americans do, that the NSA has gone too far? Is a representative of that point of view too much to ask in a panel discussion of the issues on CBS? When the American people have lost faith in Congress and in the media, how do you allow Schieffer to drive the nail into the coffin?
That episode of Face The Nation was an embarrassment. How low CBS News has fallen.
Dan Therriault
I expect more from Face The Nation than the overwhelming line-up of beltway NSA defenders discussing the Snowden revelations. The recent Michael Hayden interview was anything but rigorous and ended up being little more than a platform for Hayden to defend these programs. I’d like to see more critics of the NSA spying programs to balance out these cheerleaders and damage control types who who come on the show time and time again to sell us the benefits of giving up our privacy.
Dear Producer,
I am part of the Nation, and among the many people who have serious doubts about the NSA’s intrusive spying on everyone. Instead of a real discussion and debate, it’s gotten powder puff coverage on Face the Nation. Why?
Molly Rush
Pittsburgh, PA
Re: Little NSA Debate at CBS: Why can’t Face the Nation face dissent on NSA spying?
https://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/little-nsa-debate-at-cbs/
Shame on you, the NSA has its own PR people. The public deserves a more wide-ranging debate about the controversial NSA surveillance programs–especially after the show’s August 11 broadcast, which featured three NSA defenders.
And, Bob Schieffer, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while both he and Rosa Parks had significant support within the highest levels of government, something Snowden doesn’t have the luxury of. Didn’t you know?
If the poster above is the Plowshares Molly Rush, you are one of my heroes!
Dear CBS
cc: FAIR
I am extremely disappointed with a “Face The Nation” interview broadcast on 08/11/13, hosted by Bob Schieffer and featured guest, former NSA director, Michael Hayden.
Aside from the glaring conflict of interest in Hayden’s current role as a principal in a leading surveillance industry corporation, the interview neglected to introduce issues of criminality in the current policy, and Hayden’s role in criminality in his former role as head of NSA.
I expect and demand actual inquiry and examination from a leading journalistic institution like CBS.
Please provide adequate follow up by those who are capable of providing critical review of these practices…
And, I shouldn’t have to instruct CBS, you need to introduce guests with information about their current role as advocates for the issue they are being brought on to discuss.
Respectfully,
Raymond MacDonald
Braintree MA
To Whom is mat concern,
I am a very concerned young citizen who believes strongly that a dissenting opinion is vital to understanding our world and maintaining a free society. I believe that you should have Noam Chomsky on to discuss the NSA situation. Maybe even Glenn Greenwald. Pick anyone else you want, but give the rest of us some REAL dissension, the good ‘ol fashion kind. I have little confidence that Michael Hayden would be critical of the NSA. And as for the Congressmen that appeared, the same lack of confidence remains. I think it is important that we as Americans do everything to take this debate as far as we can, not box it in or minimize it. Wouldn’t it be a greater service to humanity to go too far in the direction of criticizing the NSA’s programs than not far enough? If your program is not ‘for the people’ who is it for? If your program does not offer dissension when dissension is merited, what does it do? And furthermore why should I watch it? Ask yourself this, “who am I serving?”
Thank you,
B
Dear Face The Nation,
I want to thank you for your coverage of Edward Snowden and the NSA surveillance story. It is rare for a news organization to take a strong stand as you have. Most coverage makes an effort to appear balanced, even though they are usually advocating a position, however subtly. With Face The Nation, however, there can be no doubt that you stand full square with the surveillance extremists.
I appreciate your honest approach, even though I will not be watching your program.
Best,
S. Beckner
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing in response to your broadcast on August 11th, 2013. This program only served as a platform for NSA defenders to continue spewing the same shameful rhetoric that has been proven incorrect time and time again. In addition to lacking any journalistic integrity to attempt to dispute these false claims , you continue to display only one side of the argument. After Michael Hayden’s softball interview, you gave time to Peter King and Dutch Ruppersberger, two people who voted against the Amash Amendment to defund the NSA’s unconstitutional surveillance program. I find it impossible to believe that the 205 congresspeople that voted for this bill refused to appear on your show. Moreover, considering that recent polls have found that the majority of Americans disapprove of the NSA’s secret spying program, I would assume its more difficult to find guests that support these intrusive programs.
I am sure most of this disgusting biased stems from host Bob Schieffer’s view of Edward Snowden, which he shared on the June 16th program. His assertion that because Edward Snowden did not remain in this country, therefore he is not a hero, only further proves that not only does this program and its host not report the news fairly, it does not follow it either. Perhaps he should have stayed in this country and subsequently been imprisoned for several years, and then eventually be put on trial, secretly. At least then you wouldn’t have to pretend to have a debate.
Thank you,
Disgusted American
Copy of letter to “Face the Nation”
When did you change from “Face the Nation” into “Slap Each Other on the Back and Agree”? You’re recent show on Ed Snowden showed about as much diversity of viewpoint as Fox News. I’m sure Rupert would be proud if you worked for him. Yes of course MLK didn’t run off to China… and look what happened to him. If he had gone to Hong Kong and was still there, an elderly man by now, I’m sure he’d straighten you guys out. Why did you only mention dead activists who didn’t leave the country? Were you afraid that, if you mentioned Daniel Ellsberg, people might wonder why he’s not on this program? His sane, logical outlook was sorely missed.
Dave Easley
Covington
Louisiana, USA
Dear Face the Nation,
In the heyday of the Soviet Union, their journalist were roundly ridiculed by the West for being stenographers to power. The difference between them and us, we were told, was we had a free press that wasn’t afraid to ask the tough questions and hold the powerful accountable.
So when I saw last Sunday’s Face The Nation, I had a powerful sense of deja vu. There, being interviewed, were 3 guests all supporting NSA spying and the host agreeing with them. Did I hear any attempts to ask tough questions or to hold the government officials accountable? (e.g. ask Hayden why we should believe anything he says after the Bush-era eavesdropping tactics by the NSA that Hayden oversaw which were repeatedly found by federal judges to be unconstitutional and a felony; ask Rep. Ruppersberger, if the NSA has been continuously violating the Constitution and Congress decides to cut off funding how will that effect his district, given that the NSA headquarters is in his district.) No! Instead, Hayden was treated with the deference and respect that Soviet era journalist would exhibit whenever they were interviewing a government apparatchik. Schieffer even thanked Hayden for showing up! When Schieffer ask Hayden if the government ought to be doing more to help the American people understand what’s happening, I felt like I was in a Moscow hotel in 1971. Back then, no American journalist would have dared to interview any government official about suspect wrongdoing/crimes without challenge. Otherwise they risked being dismissed as not a credible journalist.
We, the viewers,deserve a more wide-ranging debate about the controversial NSA surveillance programs and a host who will challenge the guests with tough questions. Not the sad display of Soviet style journalism we saw last Sunday.
Sincerely,
Gary Fitzgerald
Is Face the Nation a man, or a mouse? Why are you seemingly afraid of a real debate on NSA surveillance? Are you afraid you will be targeted next? You will be anyway. We need a national conversation on this violation of our Constitution. If the media won’t provide it, who will? Congress? Doubtful. The Executive Branch? It’s the one behind all the secrecy. It’s time for a Thomas Paine in the mainstream media, especially o a program entitled “Face the Nation.” Let’s have a real debate…no more softballs.
SENT TO CBS NEWS:
FAIR is right: shame on CBS News for your one-sided coverage and ongoing one-sided conversation about Edward Snowden.
Snowden’s actions have transformed the national, and international, landscape — revealing as never before our government’s lies and its shredding of the Constitution. This statement is backed by a litany of tangible evidence.
Millions of Americans share my opinion of Snowden: he deserves the highest praise, even a Nobel Peace Prize nomination. He has done what few of us would have the integrity and courage to do: knowingly sacrifice career, home, freedom and potentially life itself for what he believes in — the primacy of the Constitution and the protection of ordinary folks from excesses of their own government in the name of “security”.
I invite you to show one small fraction of Snowden’s integrity and courage. Have a real conversation in which some may vilify Snowden while others reflect a very different view shared by me and millions of your viewers.
Title: Deep Concern Over Face The Nation Broadcast on 08/11/203
To Whom it May Concern,
I am extremely disappointed with a “Face The Nation” interview broadcast on 08/11/13, hosted by Bob Schieffer and featured guest, former NSA director, Michael Hayden.
Aside from the glaring conflict of interest in Hayden’s current role as a principal in a leading surveillance industry corporation, the interview neglected to introduce issues of criminality in the current policy, and Hayden’s role in criminality in his former role as head of NSA. Please read the page that follows from the link below:
https://fair.org/take-action/action-alerts/little-nsa-debate-at-cbs/
I am a very concerned citizen of our nation who believes strongly that a dissenting opinion is vital to understanding our world and maintaining a free society. If honestly informing the public is any priority for you, then you should invite Glenn Greenwald on your show to discuss the leaked information in question. After all, Glenn Greenwald is entrusted by Edward Snowden with the leaked information. With the time Glenn Greenwald spends analyzing the leaked information, he understands the content and implications of the leaked information, at least as well as former NSA director Michael Hayden. The current advancement in communications technology and available resources of CBS makes it possible to even invite Mr. Edward Snowden as a guest on your program. The point, however, is that your program should invite dissenting voices on your program. Pick anyone else you want, but give the members of your audience not in positions of power or influence some genuine dissension. I have little confidence that Michael Hayden would be critical of the NSA. And as for the Congressmen that appeared, the same lack of confidence remains. I think it is important that we as Americans do everything to take this debate as far as we can, not minimize it. Do Mr. Bob Schieffer and his producers want their legacies to be “spokespersons for state power”, or “truth-bearers for the powerless”? You should adopt the latter principle if you practice any elementary moral principles, in both your private life and institutional life. Therefore, allow dissenting voices on your show. If your program is not ‘for the people’ who is it for? If your program does not offer dissension when dissension is merited, what service does it provide, and to whom? And furthermore why should anyone watch it? Ask yourself this, “who am I serving?”
I expect and demand actual inquiry and examination from a journalistic institution like CBS.
And, I shouldn’t have to instruct CBS, you need to introduce guests with information about their current role as advocates for the issue they are being brought on to discuss.
-Sena
Is anyone at CBS or ‘Face the Nation’ a REAL journalist anymore?
How do you look yourselves in the mirror and NOT puke?
Is it because you are now immune to the concept of journalistic INTEGRITY? Are you ALL simply bought off?
Evidently so.
Bob Schieffer’s bowing and scraping to the defenders of, what certainly appears to be, a patently UNCONSTITUTIONAL invasion of AMERICAN RIGHTS ………. is simply outrageous and for Schieffer to condemn Edward Snowden is simply unconscionable.
Whether Snowden is a REAL hero, one who has literally risked EVERYthing, to publically expose what EVERYONE knew was actually going on, is still an open question.
One that JOURNALISTS should still be investigating.
I am concerned with the lack of balance shown in your August 11 edition of Face the Nation. Interviewing the former head of the agency and two politicians, who albeit are from different parties but who both strongly support the NSA does not serve the public through investigation, nor through any debate. If this is your program for the PRO-NSA people, it is now time for equal time for those who challenge the program, and I look forward to that program!
You know, it is just this sort of thing that makes me watch therealnews.com instead of CBS news.
This is the e-mail I sent to CBS:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To CBS & the producers of Face the Nation
— and especially to Bob ‘I Refuse to be Unbiased’ Schieffer:
Time was, people who called themselves journalists behaved according to the ETHICS of that profession and kept their own counsel about their dis-/agreement with their subjects.
Bob Schieffer most certainly remembers the days before reprehensible, irresponsibly biased ‘infotainment’ weakened our media’s collective mind. He also recalls the existence of REAL newsmen like Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite. He likely even knew them personally – NOT that you can tell from Schieffer’s overt, hyper-conservative bias and unprofessional editorializing on Face the Nation — a news show that touts itself as covering an issue from ALL angles.
To wit: given the predominance of CBS’s soft-ball “interviews” of NSA cheerleaders and Schieffer’s open hostility toward Edward Snowdon, it has obviously escaped your network’s notice that a great many Americans are grateful to Edward Snowdon (& other progressive whistleblowers, like Bradley Manning for instance). We the People laud those who speak truth to our increasingly authoritarian government, pointing out where we have strayed from our Constitution’s doctrines.
Unlike Schieffer & the obedient producers of Face the Nation, WE are cognizant of these citizens’ patriotic service and personal sacrifice for the common good and our democracy – which you clearly need to recall is based on the freedom of speech and the right — nay, the duty — of all Americans to stand up and voice their dissent when our government/leaders renege on their duties to uphold our civil liberties and Constitution.
In short — We the People exhort CBS to do its citizen’s and journalistic DUTY to speak truth to power — NOT act as its obsequieous megaphone! CBS, you’ve outed yourselves as loyal to the NSA’s Stasi-like regime, while much of the rest of America is looking for ways “over the Wall” and back to the freedoms we enjoyed before Bush/Cheney’s selfish GWOT and Obama’s insidious expansions of it.
Lead, follow or get out our way!
Very sincerely yours,
Beth Jones
Outraged Daughter of a REAL Newspaperman
I think you should explore the risks to Constitutional protections posed by the NSA’s surveillance of electronic and telephone communications and also if CBS has a bias favoring government explanations about its activities.
I have been disappointed by Face the Nation’s tepid coverage of our government’s warrantless blanket surveillance of the entire internet & telephone-using population of the United States. CBS would not have defended the government’s “right” to violate the Constitution in the 20th century. I remember what happened to Dan Rather when he told us the truth about George W. Bush’s actions during the Vietnam era: he was publicly shamed and forced to apologize. Right? Are you cowering now? What ever happened to your journalistic mission of being the people’s defender, not the mouthpiece of an increasingly totalitarian state?
On June 16, Bob Schieffer faulted Edward Snowden for running off to China before exposing our government’s crimes. Schieffer said Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks would not have done this. They would have faced the music.
Here, for your information, is someone who handled himself in a way Bob Schieffer approves of:: Bradley Manning. Bradley Manning did not protect himself before exposing government crimes, and he was shut away for 3 years nude in solitary before he was ever put on trial. The trial he did finally receive was not a normal constitutionally protected trial. And none of the criminals exposed by Manning were ever prosecuted. Only Manning has been punished. Did Schieffer seriously believe Snowden should have allowed himself to be treated this way?
What is Bob Schieffer’s opinion of Bradley Manning? Has there been Face the Nation coverage of Manning’s heroism?
We are living in a state that increasingly resembles Putin’s. This is no longer a country where a person shut up in jail like Martin Luther King can publish Letter from a Birmingham Jail. King today, exposing 21st century crimes, would be shut up incommunicado without a trial for years.
CBS seems to be going along with the parade to totalitarianism. Where is your courage?
CBS news . . . Face the Nation,
Ok . . . if you are a news outlet it, please give equal time to the pro Snowden anti NSA people.
They include most of the citizens of the world.
– Acomfort
Dear CBS
I am extremely disappointed with a “Face The Nation” interview broadcast on 08/11/13, hosted by Bob Schieffer and NSA trumpet blowing guests, Michael Hayden, Rep. Peter King and Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger.
It would have been nice, if you would have had somebody to represent the other side of the story (May be NM Sen. Tom Udall).
CBS should not behave like Faux (Fox) News because I expect better from CBS.
Respectfully,
Shahzad Shah
Rio Rancho, NM
Make me believe you are not funded by any front groups by expanding your discussions on NSA surveillance programs–especially after the show’s August 11th broadcast featuring three NSA defenders
Dear CBS News,
Why is CBS allowing Face the Nation to appear as if that program is Bob Schieffer’s personal platform for promoting the government’s surveillance policies and domestic spying? Isn’t he supposed to be facilitating discussion of the legitimate questions surrounding this matter?
The way Schieffer conducts interviews and his apparent personal animus toward Edward Snowden (displayed in his comments on 6/16/13) looks like someone with an ax to grind – not a fair and honest broker of these enormously complex and nationally significant debates. Schieffer not only fails to challenge individuals like Michael Hayden, who unconstitutionally and feloniously spied on us during the Bush administration, but he also avoids having other guests on the program who will. And as if that isn’t enough, (on 6/30/13) Schieffer blatantly led Hayden with sweetheart questions that supported his position, such as the one gratuitously asking the general if he thinks the government should be faulted – not for its secrecy and any particular surveillance – but for failing to change public opinion. (“Do you think the government ought to be doing more to help the American people understand what’s happening here?”). Schieffer’s obsequious framing and direction of the discussion makes the entire program appear servile to the government’s official and unofficial spokespeople.
I always thought of Face the Nation as an unassailable source of news about national policy. Please don’t allow this venerable institution to simply decay into a dressed-up analog of Fox News programming, spouting editorial opinions while pitifully pretending that this is legitimate news and discussion.
I consider your recent (8/11) show discussing the NSA and Mr. Snowden one of your low waters in journalism. At a time when we should be finding out why our own country is spying on us and intently on our own allies, you parade out not a diverse set of people to delve into these issues, but apologists for NSA. We definitely don’t need to be listening to Michael Haydn who will only defend the truly un-American activities at the NSA, Coupled with Rep. King who is a fear-monger and Rep. Ruppersberger who demonstrated true naivete in talking about checks & balances behind close doors…oh, my god, sell me swampland please.
My last condemnation goes to Bob Schieffer and his unrealistic and lame condemnation of Mr. Snowden. What would he expect Mr. Snowden to do, volunteer to go to a Marine brig, be tortured, and locked away ad nauseum. No, be realistic Mr. Schieffer. You’re dealing with the dark side when it comes to the fear factories. Maybe Mr. Snowden will save us from another ill-advised war and deaths of our children. I get really tired of the holier-than-thou attitude of a journalist who wouldn’t upset an apple-cart if he ran into it!
Please, CBSNews, you can do better….a LOT better!
I always admired Bob Schieffer, until now. Debate should include all opinions, not just one side. Maybe Bob should consider retiring.
Dear Mr. Schieffer:
I’m writing in response to Fair.org’s request to ‘Tell Face the Nation the public deserves a more wide-ranging debate about NSA spying.’
As I told one of my senators “A person fishing for Tuna on the high seas isn’t going to hook a rabbit. Wrong place and wrong bait to catch a rabbit. (If) the NSA and the FBI are fishing for terrorists they won’t catch one spying on people who aren’t terrorists.” Axiomatic you may say. But there is a well entrenched coalition in Washington that doesn’t like the Bill of Rights, human rights or freedom. They take every opportunity to whittle away at freedom and human rights. They would take a chainsaw to the Bill of Rights if they could. Opus summed up their philosophy as “ No talking, No laughing, Keep Off the Grass.” And some members of congress were willing to do the wrong thing if it gave the impression they were doing something to combat terrorism.
Terrorists will use coded messages on the phone and in emails. Something as simple as ‘ Big party at Nasty Jack’s friday night. BYOB.’ The NSA and its Peeping Tom corporate contractors can record the message, archive it for a millennium and never have the slightest idea what it means. It may be archived in the same folder with the message of some guy asking Ms. Heavenly Body to hold it against him.
Terrorism is apparently a tactic to make end runs around the NSA and the combat units of the US military. Letting the NSA spy on people who aren’t terrorists is like letting the military make war on people who aren’t terrorists. Spying on the wrong people isn’t lethal of course, but its just as wrongheaded.
Copying or recording phone metadata and emails reveals an intent to use that data. It is risible to suppose that it will be accessed only by order of a court of general jurisdiction based on probable cause. Congress should repeal its Kangaroo courts – the FISA court and military tribunals.
Since the Snowden disclosures politicians and pundits have said a lot about balance. The 4th amendment sets the right balance in a free country. If presidents and congress could be trusted, the Bill of Rights would be unnecessary.
The heroes of our times are the enemies of state overreach, and become enemies of those who overreach. I believe the whistleblowers will prevail. Congress should compel the NSA to adopt the means and methods devised by three former NSA employees – Thomas Drake, William Binney, and J. Kirk Wiebe. See USA Today dtd June 17, 2012.
How about having more critics of NSA unconstitutional spying on Face The Nation? Say Glen Greenwald, People at the Electronic Frontier foundation, ACLU, or Senators Wyden, Udall and Leahy, Representatives Conyers and Amash.