As I’m sure you remember, a few weeks ago, CNET ran into some issues with its parent company, CBS. In short, CBS forbid CNET to review the Dish Hopper with Sling or give it any awards at CES. Here was the statement from the company:
The Dish Hopper with Sling was removed from consideration due to active litigation involving our parent company CBS Corp. We will no longer be reviewing products manufactured by companies with which we are in litigation with respect to such product.
Now, just two weeks later, the second sentence in that statement has come true.
John Falcone’s story on Aereo has this statement in a gray box, right in the middle of the story:
Disclosure: CBS, the parent corporation of CNET, is currently in active litigation with Aereo as to the legality of its service. As a result of that conflict of interest, CNET cannot review that service going forward.
The story is about a TV-over-Internet startup that CBS is currently tangled up with in court. That fact is called out in Falcone’s story, right in the body copy:
Aereo has raised the hackles of the broadcast networks – ABC, NBC, Fox, and CBS are all suing the startup – because it streams their signals without permission. (CNET is a subsidiary of CBS – see the full disclosure above regarding our updated coverage rules.)
Jim Romenesko is reporting that CBS’ new policy is sending morale plummeting throughout the news organization.
It’s not surprising. CBS is slowly strangling CNET.
Here’s John Biggs at TechCrunch:
I wish we didn’t have to write about CNET this way. Whatever is going on inside CBS/CNET, it’s making the tech reviewing juggernaut look like an absolute joke. It gives sites like Amazon amazing respectability and essentially makes the entire business of tech writing suspect and reduces the amount of valuable information available to readers. It hurts us all.
After the original Dish Hopper thing, CNET editor Lindsey Turrentine wrote:
The one thing I want to clearly communicate to my team and to everyone at CNET and beyond is this: CNET does excellent work. Its family of writers is unbiased, focused, bright, and true. CNET will continue to do excellent good work. Of that I am certain. Going forward, I will do everything within my power to prevent this situation from happening again.
Even though I gave her the benefit of the doubt,, it’s clear that Turrentine is unable to prevent this censorship from occurring.
It’s a damn shame.