CBS Sacks 4 for Bush Guard Story

[twpdyp]

CBS Sacks 4 for Bush Guard Story

Web Editor: Sean Rowe

Last Modified: 1/10/2005 12:28:22 PM

NEW YORK (AP) — Four CBS staff members lost their jobs Monday following the release of an independent investigation that said a "myopic zeal" led to a 60 Minutes Wednesday story about President Bush's military service that relied on allegedly forged documents.

The network fired Mary Mapes, producer of the report. Asked to resign were Josh Howard, executive producer of 60 Minutes Wednesday and his top deputy Mary Murphy; and senior vice president Betsy West.

Dan Rather, who narrated the report, announced in November that he was stepping down as anchorman of the CBS Evening News, but insisted the timing had nothing to do with the investigation.

Rather "asked the right questions initially, but then made the same errors of credulity and over-enthusiasm that beset many of his colleagues in regard to this segment," top CBS executive Leslie Moonves said.

Given Rather's apology and announcement that he was stepping down, Moonves said further action against Rather was not warranted.

CBS News President Andrew Heyward kept his job. The panel said Heyward had explicitly urged caution before the report aired.

The report cited documents purported to be from one of Bush's commanders in the Texas Air National Guard. The documents say the commander, the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, ordered Bush to take a medical exam and the future president. Killian also reportedly felt pressured to sugarcoat an evaluation of then 1st Lt. Bush.

Questions were quickly raised about the memo, with some document experts saying it appeared were written on a computer not invented at the time they were supposedly written.

The independent investigators — former Republican Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and Louis Boccardi, retired president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press — said they could find no evidence to conclude the report aired two months before the election was fueled by a political agenda.

The network's drive to be the first to break a story about Bush's National Guard service was a key reason it produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet CBS News' internal standards, the investigators said.

Although the panel said it couldn't prove conclusively the documents were forged, it said CBS News failed to authenticate them and falsely claimed an expert had done so when all he had done was authenticate one signature.

After questions were raised, CBS launched into a "strident defense" of its report without adequately probing whether the criticism was merited, compounding the damage, the panel said.

Howard was only months into his job as the executive responsible for 60 Minutes Wednesday, and gave too much deference to Mapes and Rather, the panel said in its 224-page report.

Two days after the report, Heyward ordered West to review the opinons of document examiners and confidential sources who had supported the story — but no such investigation was done.

"Had this directive been followed promptly, the panel does not believe that 60 Minutes Wednesday would have publicly defended the segment for another 10 days," the panelists said.

http://11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=57202

[wcturnersr]

I heard that the Enquirer will hire them

[Athenian]

A leader only does military service when he goes to the frontline with his men in the war he is waging...!

[Fluffybunny]

As much as I dislike bush; that was not a good thing to do...I could see how a small newspaper that did not have the resources needed to do extensive research might get caught up in something like this, but CBS? Seems pretty "convenient".

Keeping in mind that there was so much stuff about bush that was verified that they could have gone after; people should be losing their jobs...

[twpdyp]

Athenian Posted Today, 02:51 PM

  A leader only does military service when he goes to the frontline with his men in the war he is waging...!

Then explain former President William Jefferson Clinton. At least President Bush served in some capacity. I agree it does a leader good to have been through what you are sending your subordinates to do.

[Homer]

A leader only does military service when he goes to the frontline with his men in the war he is waging...!

444742[/snapback]

That's stupid.

This thread isn't about bashing Bush, but about the deliberate innacuracies of the CBS report. Whether you like Bush or not is irrelevent, and shouldn't be a part of this thread. CBS was "neither fair nor accurate and did not meet CBS News' internal standards", the investigators said. Also, CBS's own probe concluded "the network news organization failed to follow basic journalistic principles in preparing, reporting and following the Bush piece."

[Homer]

I agree it does a leader good to have been through what you are sending your subordinates to do.

444760[/snapback]

I agree also, but that isn't what idiot boy(Athenian) is saying. He said a leader(President, in this case), should lead his men in the front line in the war he is waging.

No national leader on the planet can do this, nor should they do this. I feel ashamed even commenting on something so stupid.

[Fluffybunny]

I heard that the Enquirer will hire them

444741[/snapback]

Ouch...I guess the truth hurts. I think after this these folks won't be able to do so much as place a classified ad in the paper...