Miles to Go: Postscript

Yesterday's piece on the laying-off of Miles O'Brien and the dismantling of the entire CNN Sci-Tech Unit -- which also appeared at the Huffington Post -- said essentially what I wanted it to: It reflected how I felt and continue to feel about the network's less-than-exemplary treatment of some of the excellent people on its staff, Jon Klein's utter disregard for the lives he's arbitrarily toying with, the commitment to silly eye-catching production over the actual smart and experienced people behind it and, quite frankly, the abandonment of true journalism in favor of nonsense.

I made all of that clear, and yet I feel like I left a couple of things out -- points that really need to be made.

The first is that Miles O'Brien is a really, really great guy. A true professional. He's smart, funny, personable and a joy to work with. I know this because I was a producer with American Morning during his time on the show and the level of expertise, commitment and class that he brought to the job each day was one of the things that would actually make me feel like we were doing something worthwhile.

He's one of the good ones -- and there are, increasingly, fewer and fewer of those out there. The fact that he can be tossed aside isn't an affront to him as much as it's an affront to you, the audience.

The second is that the people who went with Miles -- and for all I know Jon Klein may not even be aware of this, given the height of his ivory tower -- do much more than just help produce science and technology pieces. Peter Dykstra, for example, programs the weather computers used by the Rob Marcianos and Chad Myerses of the network. He's literally the guy behind the guy. Add to that the fact that Dykstra was on the front lines of selling CNN's over-the-top tech-wizardry -- yes, that ridiculous "hologram" being an example -- to the public at technology conventions and symposiums. He was one of the faces of that cool production -- its champion and the one who was often called upon to proclaim to the masses how it proved CNN's dominance in the world of cable news.

And they canned him.

The third and final point?

Mark my words on this: There will be more lay-offs at CNN.

Over the last month or so, eight people were let go from American Morning, then seven more from Sci-Tech. The official word from CNN is that these dismissals are the result of "restructuring" and have nothing to do with the current economy.

Uh-huh. Move along -- nothing to see here.

It's a lie, plain and simple. And it will continue, even in the face of all evidence to the contrary. CNN will attempt to gloss over the truth simply because it believes, inexplicably, that it can.

Just think about that the next time you're watching "The Most Trusted Name In News."

(Update: Miles's wife, Sandy, sent me a very nice e-mail in response to yesterday's piece. She also posted a comment on Jacki Schechner's site which gets into just what went down when they let Miles go. Jacki responds to the comment by discussing, in detail, the manner in which she was laid off from CNN. Honestly, the whole thing is revealing in a way I couldn't ever be; that exchange says everything you need to know about life inside CNN. Read it here.)