CBS Evening News seems to have shifted from merely reporting the news to becoming an advocate. On Tuesday, June 17, fill-in host Jeff Glor introduced a segment on gun control that sounded more like anti-gun propaganda from Michael Bloomberg than an actual news report.
Glor began by hyping “Today, the man who reenergized the movement for stricter gun laws took his fight to the nation's capital. Last month, Richard Martinez lost his son, one of six student shots or stabbed to death near the University of California Santa Barbara.”
The report then turned to Nancy Cordes who offered a puff piece as she acted as a gun control cheerleader:
NANCY CORDES: Richard Martinez didn't come to Washington to meet with politicians. He came to meet parents from Newtown, Tucson, and Columbine, who know the grief he's feeling.
MARTINEZ: There's a hole in my heart that nothing can fill.
CORDES: 20-year-old Chris Martinez was killed 26 days ago in a Santa Barbara deli. His father's public statement was raw and impassioned.
MARTINEZ: Too many have died. We should say to ourselves not one more.
CORDES: Those words have become a rallying cry. 600,000 Americans signed up to send postcards baring the phrase to elected officials, and it re-energized gun safety advocates like Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, whose daughter Jessica died in the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado in 2012.
The CBS reporter continued to advocate on behalf of the gun control activists by lamenting to Richard Martinez “When you talk to these parents who have been fighting for smarter gun laws for 15 years and hadn’t gotten anywhere, does that discourage you?”
Nowhere in the CBS report did Cordes provide any soundbites from gun rights supporters, instead focusing solely on the advocacy of gun violence victims. Cordes concluded her report by bemoaning the fact that when she “Asked the top Republican and the top Democrat in the Senate today whether there is any new room for agreement on proposals that most Americans support, like strengthening background checks or dealing with mental health. Their answers were vague, and noncommittal.”
See relevant transcript below.
CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley
June 17, 2014
6:50 p.m. Eastern
JEFF GLOR: Today, the man who reenergized the movement for stricter gun laws took his fight to the nation's capital. Last month, Richard Martinez lost his son, one of six student shots or stabbed to death near the University of California Santa Barbara. Nancy Cordes has more.
RICHARD MARTINEZ: The last time I saw Chris was in a small room in a mortuary.
NANCY CORDES: Richard Martinez didn't come to Washington to meet with politicians. He came to meet parents from Newtown, Tucson, and Columbine, who know the grief he's feeling.
MARTINEZ: There's a hole in my heart that nothing can fill.
CORDES: 20-year-old Chris Martinez was killed 26 days ago in a Santa Barbara deli. His father's public statement was raw and impassioned.
MARTINEZ: Too many have died. We should say to ourselves not one more.
CORDES: Those words have become a rallying cry. 600,000 Americans signed up to send postcards baring the phrase to elected officials, and it re-energized gun safety advocates like Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, whose daughter Jessica died in the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado in 2012.
LONNIE PHILLIPS: Gun violence in our nation has caused, is caused by craven and irresponsible politicians and the corporate gun lobby that buy their votes to block any and all reasonable, life-saving solutions.
CORDES: When you talk to these parents who have been fighting for smarter gun laws for 15 years and hadn’t gotten anywhere, does that discourage you?
MARTINEZ: Not a bit. You could tell me that everything that I'm going to do or plan to do will not be successful. That will not alter what I'm going to do one bit.
CORDES: I asked the top Republican and the top Democrat in the Senate today whether there is any new room for agreement on proposals that most Americans support, like strengthening background checks or dealing with mental health. Their answers were vague, and noncommittal.
— Jeffrey Meyer is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Jeffrey Meyer on Twitter. [1]