Remember when you really screwed up and your mom made this ominous pronouncement: “Wait until your father gets home?” You knew that deep doo-doo was in your immediate future.
Well, Daddy is home.
Reacting to the document scandal at CBS News, Sumner M. Redstone, chairman and chief executive of Viacom (nyse: VIAb - news - people ), CBS' parent, vowed that the results of a recently announced probe would be "appropriate--and the consequences will be appropriate."[SNIP]
Earlier this week CBS News named former Pennsylvania Governor and U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and retired Associated Press President and CEO Louis D. Boccardi to an independent panel to probe the story. Redstone said he has been talking daily to top CBS officials and to Viacom board members about the controversy.Mr. Redstone, while definitely no Republican--in spite of his kind words for the president in the article--undoubtedly recognizes what’s important (important at least to Viacom’s board members and stockholders): the bottom line. With CBS News’ ratings declining in the wake of the document scandal and with its affiliates being bombarded with criticism from the viewing and listening public, one suspects that the time for cutting losses has arrived. Mr. Redstone will politely wait until the Independent Panel reaches its conclusions, but I’m betting that his list is already completed.
(Thanks to Roger L. Simon)
