This is the same CBS that has repeatedly refused to run advocacy ads from progressive groups like MoveOn.org. This is the same CBS that built a then-unparalleled reputation back in the day for its tough, ethical, truth-to-power brand of TV News Journalism.

And now this CBS has not only sold an extremist religious group a half-minute of the most high-impact broadcast television airtime the medium has to offer - no, reports indicate that this CBS also helped Focus On The Family write its ad copy. Just a helpful "spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" kind of a thing, no doubt.

From Edward R. Murrow to Walter Cronkite to Don Hewitt - there must be an awful lot of "spinning in the grave" action going on in that CBS Newsroom somewhere in the Great Beyond.

Yes, that was the News division, and yes, this new policy and the way it's being launched are decisions being made by the Business division. And yes, CBS is a private, for-profit company that has a right to make its money in any way it sees fit.

Yet one would think that in addition to all the desperate bean-counters, there might still be a few stalwarts left at the network with the intelligence and integrity to ask: What about the damage being done to what for so long has been an honorable brand? What about damage to the notion that one of the few "free" broadcast networks left should answer to a slightly higher calling in its rightful pursuit of profits?



The bottom-line question - as posed and answered, in mildly graphic terms in the short (1:15), fierce song parody video linked to below - is:



What Does CBS Stand For?