Ford: Just A “Crawl” On CBS

The AP’s Ford coverage recap begins with this: “Unlike its network rivals, CBS News did not break into its programming for a special report on former President Ford’s death, instead running a printed ‘crawl’ at the bottom of the screen with the news.”

A CBS spokesperson wouldn’t let David Bauder “discuss the decision-making process” with an executive. (None were “available.”)

“CBS News reported the news of President Ford’s death as soon as we had confirmation, and provided extensive coverage during the network’s overnight broadcasts and ‘The Early Show,'” the spokesperson said.

“Generally speaking, you don’t want to be the only network that didn’t do something when the others did,” Tom Rosenstiel says in the piece. “It’s better to be the only network that did something when the others didn’t.”