Couric's "Free Speech" segment - no liberals to balance the docShopper

[JohnWxy]

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200609120003

Katie and Rush and the face of corporate news
—Eric Boehlert

~~
~~
And what exactly was the goal of "Free Speech"? "We want to encourage more civil discourse," Couric announced.

"Civil discourse" and Rush Limbaugh are terms rarely used in the same sentence. After all, it was Limbaugh who called Sen. John Kerry a "gigolo," mocked Democratic Party chief Howard Dean as "a very sick man," labeled liberal philanthropist George Soros a "self-hating Jew," and announced that Democrats "hate this country." The right-wing talker has also mocked anti-war crusader Cindy Sheehan, whose son was killed in Iraq, by teasing, "'Oh, she lost her son!' Yes, yes, yes, but (sigh) we all lose things.'"
~~
~~

Nonetheless, according to Limbaugh, Couric personally approached him about contributing to the newscast and assured him he would have freedom to say whatever he wanted, and -- most importantly, according to Limbaugh -- there would be nobody following him on the Evening News to rebut his comments.
~~
~~
And just for the record, during her first week in the anchor chair, Couric did not invite an openly partisan liberal to appear on the "Free Speech" segment.

Welcome to the new era of the CBS Evening News.