Over a month ago, on February 17’s edition of CBS MorningsMeg Oliver, a reporter for the network, highlighted an example of a Tennessee school district which used a new program in order to address their teacher shortage. On Wednesday, 23 March 2003 however, CBS Evening NewsThey presented exactly the same story, as if they were showing viewers a brand new idea. The report contained less information than in February’s update. Yet another example of the lazy shop anchor Norah O’Donnell runs.
A network may use a report similar to their morning newscast for their evening newscast. The update is often accompanied with more information as the story develops throughout the day. Some b-roll, interviews and b-roll also make it part of the broadcast. It is not unusual to wait over a month before a newscast shows a report.
As the video below shows, however (alternating between clips of CBS Mornings CBS Evening News), the over-a-month-old story was lifted nearly whole cloth and plopped down for O’Donnell’s show.
It is notable that the report has a longer length. This report was created on CBS MorningsIt took 2 minutes and 35 second, CBS Evening NewsIt lasted less than 2 minutes (at 1:56). This only covers what Oliver said in the video segment. There were no comments or lead-ins from anchors. The program was not updated or shared with viewers in this way.
Another difference was a slight change to Oliver’s sign-off at the end of the report. Oliver ended his February morning with these words:
The OLIVER: Unending opportunities to fulfill your educational goals.
DEMETRIUS WINN (teacher speaking to students).
OLIVER: For “CBS mornings,” meg Oliver, Clarksville, Tennessee.
“Endless opportunities helping fulfill educational dreams. For Eye on America, Meg Oliver, CBS News, Clarksville, Tennessee,” she said for O’Donnell’s show.
Now, what makes us think this is has something to do with O’Donnell?
Well for starters, she gets to decide what’s on it and earlier this month the New York Post published accounts from CBS employees who are fed up with her “toxic behavior,” which includes how segments are selected.
According to CBS insiders, O’Donnell puts on a “‘The Devil Wears Prada’ routine” that involves “a full ‘dress rehearsal’” of the show just a half-hour before they go live. The paper describes this as “an often tense ritual that has seen O’Donnell chewing out dressing room stylists over her hair and makeup” and to apparently iron out what segments make it to air:
“The rehearsals are an excuse to blow up packages 15 minutes before the show,” one source griped. “She changes the words to segments. Everyone has a stroke.”
What do you do if you don’t have anything to fill the package? Look deep and find an innocuous item. This segment might have been cut in February, and it was found on the cutting-room floor. Ironically, the title for the Wednesday segment was “making grade”.
This programming snafu reminded NewsBusters of a time back in May 2020 when O’Donnell’s show failed to air at all one Tuesday night because of power failure in the D.C. bureau. Their online streaming 24-hours service CBSN was forced to take its place.
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