atkinson advisor

They say that bad news comes in threes. In this case, it also comes with three letters: CBS.

CBS’ credibility is now on the line just as it was for The New York Times with Jason Blair and USA Today with Jack Kelly. A Los Angeles Times editorial said it perfectly: “Inevitably, bad things happen to good news organizations. The test of a serious journalistic enterprise is how it reacts to internal crisis.

CBS’ failure is more than another media scandal. It increases the lack of trust that corporate America already has in reporters. Trust us, the gap is huge and growing wider every day.

CBS’ apology was right, but it should have come sooner. To restore its credibility, CBS must now throw all of its investigative powers behind the source of the debunked National Guard papers. Anything less could seriously jeopardize the network’s future among the national media elite.

Sometimes, you just have to take your medicine. Just ask The New York Times.

The venerable paper that has both launched and demolished the reputations of many other companies is in a fight to save its own.

Will the Jayson Blair crisis kill The New York Times? No. Has it fallen from the ranks of the most reputable media? Debatable. Will it take years to rebuild its storied reputation? Absolutely.

The Times is not the first first-rate newspaper to suffer at the hands of a deceitful reporter. In 1981, the Washington Post had to return a Pulitzer Prize won for a fictitious story about an 8-year-old heroin addict written by Janet Cooke. The Post managed to survive that crisis.

To the Times, we will offer the same advice we always do: tell the truth, tell it all, and tell it fast. The sooner people understand and forgive; the faster The New York Times can begin the long, slow rebuilding process.