Keith was trying to get at something last night that hasn't yet been picked up by many.

[Winterblues]

Why isn't there an interest in the fact that a major CBS producer/editor wanted money to kill a story. How many other times has CBS killed a story for money? People are piling on Letterman but he is just an entertainer. CBS is a Major Network and it got caught trying to extract money to kill a story....I think an investigation should be in order..

[LeFleur1]

1. What the...

The Free Bought and Paid for Press?

[robinlynne]

2. I don't think it was CBS. I think it was one criminal extortionist.

[Winterblues]

4. He was very high up in CBS

What you say may be true or it could be a pattern. How would we know?

[robinlynne]

7. interesting. but he was not threatening to put the story on CBS. he was threatening to

write a book.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

8. It would have never been a CBS story, it would have been a tabloid story

But, I guess it does raise questions about the individual producer - whether he has ever offered to sit on or kill a story for money previously. I wouldn't really expect anyone else to step foward since it would have to be something like "Hey! I had to pay him 3 Mil to kill the story on how I was fleecing the government."

[spooky3]

10. I agree; it is not a story for legitimate media to investigate the purely private lives of

entertainers, who do not hold positions of public trust, elected or otherwise, and aren't being paid by tax money. If there were allegations of illegal sexual harassment by the employees, then it would be a story.

I also agree though that it raises questions about what else this guy has done with other stories.

[northzax]

11. i don't know

frankly, it seems relevant that an employee of said (publicly traded) company was engaging in some fairly serious sexual favor trading with subordinates.

[eShirl]

13. sexual favor trading?

please, explain what you are implying

[northzax]

14. not really implying anything

just going on the story as told by Mr. Letterman himself. you are a young, female employee of Worldwide Pants, working on the Late Show. Mr. Letterman holds your financial future (at least in this job) in his hands. a recommendation from him is gold, the lack of a recommendation is the end of your career. you see Stephanie Birkett getting appearances on the show as an assistant, while you're getting coffee. you see her leave the show to go to law school, and the rumors fly that the boss is paying her tuition. meanwhile, you're making $25 grand and living in a shared hovel in outer Brooklyn. heck, she's front and center in the annual staff photo! you also hear that she's sleeping with the boss (not a major secret, I have to tell you, there are no secrets on a show like that. so one day, the boss calls you into his office and makes a move on you. you don't think there's an implied quid pro quo there?

see, here's the thing with sexual harassment and favor trading. it's all about the appearance of a problem. I know I've had a boss sleeping with one of my colleagues in the past. and you begin to wonder, why did she get that plum assignment? why is she the one going to the conference in Hawaii? if she gets promoted, is it because of her work, or her (cough) work? there's no way for someone outside the immediate circle to know (or even inside most of the time) therefore, if the boss approaches another person for sex, how can she not feel pressured, knowing that experience shows that those who put out get forward?

[rvablue]

15. Dave isn't an employee of CBS

He produces his own show and sells it to the network.

And what's up with the blind accusations of "favor trading?" Looks to me like simple lust was the movtivator in this case.

[northzax]

17. but suppliers to CBS

are required to abide by CBS's rules. and I would wager that includes sexual relationships with a subordinate need to be at the very least reported to HR, don't you think?

and as mentioned above, what matters is the appearance of impropriety, not necessarily that it existed.

[spooky3]

19. you're making a lot of assumptions about what happened and what others

thought and believed about it. You may also want to look into the current SH law and think about how to make tradeoffs between protecting vulnerable employees and respecting individuals' rights to have purely personal relationships without the employer's nosing in.

I will stick by my earlier statement - unless there is evidence of illegal sexual harassment (or even perceived harassment that is not ultimately shown to be illegal) and until I get a lot more info than I currently have, I am not going to judge this as illegal or immoral.

[AllentownJake]

3. I think he was thinking about the profession as a whole

How many stories have been killed for a pay-off of some sorts.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. This is the first I've heard any of this.

Any links to the actual story? Who broke it? What was KO"s source?

[DefenseLawyer]

6. I don't think it was really a "story"

He was talking about writing a book and doing a screenplay, not producing a news story. Do you really think CBS news was going to do a "48 Hours Mystery" about Dave's sex life? This guy was on his own. His girlfriend slept with David Letterman. It was personal.

[rvablue]

16. While the wording of the OP is a little off key, IMO, the guy's jobs is relevant.

He is (was) an investigative journalist.

Part of that job -- no matter how watered down it's become -- involves anonymous sources and dealing with some pretty sensitive topics. This guy knew exactly what he was doing, that it was illegal and just importantly, that these acts were in direct opposition to his work as a reporter/journalist.

So, was he going to do a story on 48 hours on Dave. No. But this case has brought to light that this man was in a state of financial desperation (remains to be seen if it was simple greed and stupidity)and so the questions remains: did he extort any else out of money? Let's say, maybe a subject of one of his stories? Like: "If you pay me some such money, I'll make sure this story gets killed."

CBS does need to do an independant investigation of this guy's last few years of work and share their findings with viewers/public. Nothing to do with Dave, but the concept that this type of person was producing investigative pieces at their network is not good for them.

[DefenseLawyer]

18. He stole his girlfriend's diary

That was his anonymous source. Again, I think all the evidence points to this being a personal act, not a business decision. Obviously if he had extorted money from others, that would be a matter for the police. It wouldn't hurt anything for CBS to make sure that this kind of thing hasn't happened before, I just have seen no evidence to indicate that that is the case.

[Viking12]

9. Lame.

[fascisthunter]

12. A person tried to Blackmail Letterman and CBS

regarding his affairs