Sen. Jesse Helms (R., N.C.) reportedly is preparing a letter campaign urging conservatives to buy CBS stock to take control of the television network and ”become Dan Rather`s boss.”
In a five-page letter made public Thursday by the Raleigh News & Observer, Helms accuses CBS of biased news reporting and calls for a
”national crusade” to gain influence over the network.
Helms writes that if each of 1 million conservatives ”shifts enough of his or her savings or investments to buy just 20 shares of CBS stock, we would have enough votes to end CBS` bias forever.”
The letter says CBS is targeted because it is ”the most anti-Reagan network!”
”It`s vital for us to put an end to media bias,” the letter says.
The letter, signed ”Sincerely, Jesse Helms,” is dated Jan. 21 and evidently has not been mailed yet, but copies were being printed in Raleigh last week, according to the News & Observer, which obtained a copy from a source who asked not to be named.
The letter asks for contributions to a group called Fairness in Media. It would cost about $1 billion at current prices to buy half of the CBS stock, said William Suter, a New York-based researcher for Merrill Lynch & Co.
