A ‘bias monitor’ for CBS News is a bad idea. Here’s why

‘Job requirements for public editors include fairness, independence, and a thick skin.’ Photograph: Jim Cooper/AP

For years before I became the public editor at the New York Times, I admired the work of journalists doing the job of holding their own newsrooms accountable to high standards.

And when I heard that CBS News would get a position something like that, I thought – briefly – that this could be a positive development. After all, the network’s credibility and independence has come under fire after its parent company settled a frivolous lawsuit brought by Donald Trump. Paramount Global, the CBS parent company, was bashed for capitulating to political pressure in order to get federal approval for a merger with another media company.