The New York Times reported Monday that CBS has been in talks with Time Warner to potentially outsource some of their news operations to CNN. Sheldon Rampton, Research Director with the Madison based-Center for Media and Democracy, says plans like these are bad for public information. He says with fewer sources generating the news means less diversity of opinion and less reporting.
Rampton says the CBS/CNN talks appear to be very preliminary and he understands that companies are pressured to find ways to cut costs. This is coupled with a trend in which newsrooms see their consumers dwindling. Rampton says these operations respond with a superficial approach involving "glitz and glam."
He believes stronger content would be a better approach to boosting the numbers.
"If the news industry really wants to win back an audience I think it has to get back to the work of real journalism."
The two networks have met several times over the years about sharing news, going as far back as 1998. CBS is officially denying the latest talks are taking place.