CBS’s CNET Fiasco

[joseephuss]

http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/cbss_cnet_fiasco.php

CBS’s CNET Fiasco

Last week, CNET picked Dish Network’s Hopper with Sling, a DVR that can skip ads even more efficiently than other DVRs and let’s you watch shows remotely, as the best doohickey of the CES tech show.

CNET has typically picked TVs as its winners in the last five years, something CBS presumably didn’t discourage.

But when CNET picked Dish’s DVR as the best gadget, its corporate overlords at CBS told it to cease and desist. Late last week, CNET added a note on its Hopper with Sling review that said this:

Editors’ note: The Dish Hopper with Sling, the original pick for Best Home Theater and Audio product and Best of Show, was removed from consideration due to active litigation involving our parent company, CBS Corp. We will no longer be reviewing products manufactured by companies with which we are in litigation with respect to such product.

On Monday, Greg Sandoval quit in protest and went public with his complaints about CBS, tweeting that “I no longer have confidence that CBS is committed to editorial independence” and that “CNET wasn’t honest about what occurred regarding Dish is unacceptable to me. We are supposed to be truth tellers.”

[Reality]

Years ago I was a fan of CNET, but you can tell they have become too commercialized the days which in itself taints all of their reviews and comments on technology. If there was ever proof of their lost credibility, it was this event with CBS.

/reality