Isaiah Poole

"CBS This Morning" used to be my go-to morning program because it was more serious and news-oriented. By contrast, "CBS Mornings" is borderline unwatchable. At 8 a.m. on a recent morning, there was a 60-second "eye-opener" of headlines, with background music that nearly overwhelmed the story narraration, then it was right to a celebrity interview. On a previous day, there was a DJ on the set. We are in the middle of a pandemic. Thousands of Haitians escaping from a collapse of their country are being turned away from ours. A congressional deadlock over a budget bill threatens an epic financial crash. Fights over abortion, voting rights, and what students should be taught about our country's racial history are breaking out almost everywhere. And now the "news" division of CBS thinks its morning show should be an escape from the news rather than giving us the facts and context we need to get through all this. If this was a desperate attempt to grab ratings, it is failing—viewership at this writing is down 15% from a year ago. Among that 15%: me.