News goes on vacation at CBS-owned stations

[Commentary] When Chicago's Steve Baskerville cheerfully delivered the weather forecast for Honolulu during WBBM-Channel 2's 5 p.m. newscast Sept 20, he wasn't just shilling for the premiere of "Hawaii Five-O" that night. He was taking part in a well-coordinated plan to prostitute the newscasts of CBS-owned stations nationwide.

From New York to Los Angeles, CBS stations transformed their local newscasts into shameless infomercials for the prime-time drama series. News anchors at KCBS-TV in L.A. even wore leis on the air, according to a published report. "This was beyond embarrassing," wrote Scott Jones, editor of the industry website FTVLive.com. "Hijacking a large market newscast and turning it into [one] long promo should be a crime." Nowhere was the mandate carried out with more gusto than in Chicago, where Channel 2 ran commercials for weeks featuring its top news talent pimping for "Hawaii Five-O." In one, they were seen sitting around pretending to conspire to find ways to tie themselves in to the hot new series.