New weekender Ankush has an article on CBSNews.com telling the flagging network division how to right itself. The section they published him, "Outside Voices," is one of those spaces institutions seeking to display openness clear out for harsh criticism of their business practices. It's an odd concept, though not one limited to CBS (The LA Times, for awhile at least, had a similar feature). I find it unlikely much of the CBS brass is trolling that corner of their site for vicious criticism. So, in reality, what you have is a piece of CBS's site telling readers why the network sorta blows. As I said, odd. Not to be to cynical about this, but displaying an openness to such criticism is often a substitute for actually accepting it. What CBS is doing isn't necessarily listening to its critics, but publishing them. Which is sort of a shame, as all of Ankush's comments are good ones, and the network would be well-served if its executives, rather than its audience, read them.
