Bush-donor to lead CBS News

CBS' top sports guy, Sean McManus, appointed head of CBS News on Wednesday, donated $250 to Bush's reelection last year according to FEC filings.

Clamor all you want about whether this is proper or not -- in fact, I think it is. (There are those who question whether it's illegal to prevent employees from donating to candidates, supporting causes, applying bumper stickers, whatever, as long as it's not on company time.)

The mindset that journalists must maintain complete and total partiality when they're off duty can border on the absurd, like the case of the St. Paul Pioneer Press part-time copy editor suspended for attending a peace rally with his church. Or SF Chron. tech columnist, Henry Norr, fired for attending an anti-war rally in 2003.

But Michael Petrelis, who comments that "He was just exercising his First Amendment rights and giving to the 2004 presidential candidate who best represented his views," isn't really bent out of shape about the fact of it either. He's curious why CBS refuses to comment: "Uh, oh. That's not too smart of CBS to not have a comment about his contributions... does CBS intend to stay silent for his entire tenure about his FEC file?"

Clearly for a network that functions more as a business entity than as an information source, the broadest appeal is crucial. CBS could just be playing dead, hoping for the news to just fade, which it likely will.

On a more visceral level: Donating to Bush in 2004? You've got to be kidding. A network news executive doesn't have the excuse of being ill-informed. What's his? Dumb jock perhaps? (Petrelis Files)

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