CBS news and the trojan horse

The United States of America: a nation of one people, one mind. That might be true when it comes to the big stuff. If you’re talking about dealing with national emergencies, defending against foreign threats, or winning at the Olympics, we are all pretty much together, but for everything else, it sometimes seems like we are one nation of three hundred and thirty million very different minds. That is abundantly clear anywhere you may look, thanks to the steroid-enhanced internet world of mass media, dark web, Facebook, TikTok, the self-anointed guru podcasters, and all the whiz-kid cyber inventors and innovators. The list goes on and on. It’s a “no-holes-barred” race to get your message out there and make your brand or your outlook more powerful and addictive than anyone else’s. There is a dangerous and even criminal lack of accountability in terms of how factual the information from all these sources is. Even the major broadcast media outlets have openly violated the trust and standards they are lawfully bound to uphold. The result is a wild-west shoot-out between the major networks NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, MSNBC, and CNN. Anyone who is old enough to remember Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley, Howard K. Smith, or David Brinkley would agree that the quality of broadcast news since the days of these legendary and trustworthy anchors has dropped off the bottom of the chart. The worst part of it all is that in 2025, most of this country has become conditioned to the sensationalized brand of “shoot first and ask questions later” journalism of today. The public no longer has a baseline for what a first-rate news organization should really look like.

This past Sunday, “CBS Sunday Morning” featured as its lead story an interview with Elon Musk. Musk rarely does sit-down network interviews, but he contacted CBS and invited David Pouge, who is described as a “science writer” for the CBS show, to visit him at one of Musk’s SpaceX facilities. Pogue usually does lighthearted stories and tech reports for the CBS program. The Sunday interview at first centered on the SpaceX program and an upcoming launch. It then moved away from space exploration and slid into Elon’s recent political activities as Pogue awkwardly began a line of questioning concerning Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and his relationship with President Donald Trump. Pogue appeared to be noticeably uncomfortable and out of place in playing the role of a hard news interviewer. As the interview continued, it became more and more apparent that Pouge had been versed, tutored and prepped for this attempt at an embarrassing revival of the old “trojan horse trick”. The result was an interview that lost focus, wasted the viewer’s time, and failed in it’s plan to undermine Mr. Musk. CBS only succeeded in crowding the air with hazy insinuations, attacks and references concerning Musk’s political influence in Washington with the Trump administration. No reference was ever made to any of the other projects Musk has provided for the benefit of this country including directing a genuine effort to reduce the 35 trillion dollar national debt, as well as helping to revive NASA and the United States’ leadership in space exploration, or the work and donated material Musk provided to bring life-saving star-link communications to North Carolina following Hurricane Helene. Neither was any mention made by the “science writer” Pouge of Musk’s work with the medical community in research and production of computer-aided innovations to restore hope and neurological health to those suffering from debilitating injuries. No mention came of the thousands of jobs he has created through the six companies he has founded. However, at the end of the show, CBS pointedly made mention of the fact that the launch and mission of the latest SpaceX rocket that David Pogue was invited to attend was unsuccessful. Another Space X launch within days, however, was successful and delivered 39 communication satellites into orbit. Curiously, CBS news neglected to mention that. Sadly, throughout this program, CBS news also neglected two important tenets of the field in which they practice: that freedom of the press relies on the Constitution, but fairness of the press relies on something even more basic and indispensable.

By any measure, Elon Musk is an enigmatic personality. He is not someone well-suited for talk shows or politics, but he is a talented visionary who has contributed and will continue to contribute his goodwill and brilliance in support of this country. We can only hope that will not change in spite of the disappointing treatment he recently received from a declining Sunday morning TV show.