Government-Newsroom Revolving Door Whacks CBS

[Commentary] After leading with a report on the Senate Intelligence Committee’s scathing report on CIA torture -- and then airing an old interview with then-CIA director George Tenet -- anchor Scott Pelley sat down with Michael Morell, CBS’ Senior Security Contributor, to discuss the matter. But Morell, a former CIA deputy director and acting director, wasn’t there to offer unbiased and expert perspective on the torture report. He was there to defend it.

The decision to put him in the interview chair had Pelley doing journalistic back-flips explaining just which hat Morell was wearing during the conversation. Morrell went from acting director of the CIA to CBS News Senior Security Contributor then back to CIA spokesman and then back again as Senior Security Contributor. It further blurs the already woozy line between network news and government spin.