In his new book, The Place to Be: Washington, CBS, and the Glory Days of Television News, Roger Mudd chronicles his trajectory from copy boy to network anchor, and he fondly remembers what it was like during "The Golden Age," as he calls it. "At the heart of the CBS News operation was its Washington bureau--a proud, competitive, and talented cadre of reporters, correspondents, producers, editors, and executives who so dominated the network's news division that it became almost an independent duchy."
Back then, he and four other correspondents, Dan Rather, Daniel Schorr, Martin Kalb, and George Herman, sat in a row of cubicles near the entrance to the network's Washington bureau:
Lesley Stahl said we looked like miniatures in a shadow box, maybe even mannequins in a Saks Fifth Avenue window. She was talking about her first look at five of America's most distinguished television correspondents on the first day she came to work at the CBS Washington bureau. What Lesley saw along the south wall of the newsroom were five cubicles, each about six-feet-by-eight, their walls covered in a beige textured paper, and each equipped with a desk, a chair, a typewriter, a telephone, and a television star.
Mudd joins us today, with his former colleague, Bob Schieffer, to talk about the heyday of network news, and to offer their thoughts on its future. There were a few grim reports about CBS News last week. (Our own media correspondent, David Folkenflik, summed it up last night.)
If you used to watch Mudd, share your memories with us. And if you have questions for him, leave them here.
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