Via CBS News (insert your own joke here: CBS Ousts 4 For Bush Guard Story
Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush%u2019s National Guard service.The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with a “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.
No joke. I don’t think Rather has yet to admit that the documents were obvious forgeries.
Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.
And while they don’t conclude partisan bias:
While the panel found that some actions taken by CBS News encouraged such suspicions, “the Panel cannot conclude that a political agenda at 60 Minutes Wednesday drove either the timing of the airing of the segment or its content.�
They still do note:
The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was also faulted for calling Joe Lockhart, a senior official in the John Kerry campaign, prior to the airing of the piece, and offering to put Burkett in touch with him. The panel called Mapes’ action a “clear conflict of interest that created the appearance of political bias.�
Gee, ya think?
Update: My original posting was interupted by a phone call, so I missed this incredible nugget (which I noticed in James’ response to the document at OTB):
While the panel said it was not prepared to brand the Killian documents as an outright forgery, it raised serious questions about their authenticity and the way CBS News handled them.
You have got to be kidding me. That those documents were produced on modern equipment was plainly obvious (for a refresher, look at this).
Another bad point: the panel refuses to punish Rather bevause he voluntarily left the anchor position because of this mess.
But remember how hard CBS was yelling that his retirement had *nothing* to do with the memo flap back when he announced it?
There are only two choices: They are lying now that his retirement was because of the mistakes, or they were lying then when they said that there was no connection.
Do they *really* believe our memories are that short?
Comment by Steven L. — Monday, January 10, 2024 @ 12:18 pm
RatherGate Investigation Report Released
The REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL - DICK THORNBURGH AND LOUIS D. BOCCARDI [pdf] has been released. It’s over 221 pages and I haven’t read it, nor am I likely to in all honesty. The executive summary, however, makes it clear that the panel …
Trackback by Outside The Beltway — Monday, January 10, 2024 @ 12:39 pm
Of course they won’t proclaim the docs to be forgeries….it opens them up to legal actions if they do.
Comment by Shark — Monday, January 10, 2024 @ 12:43 pm
CBS Report Out - 4 Fired
The Report (compliments of Wizbang) - PDF CBS’ own take: Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service. The action was pro…
Trackback by Rooftop Report — Monday, January 10, 2024 @ 1:18 pm
CBS Ousts 4 For Bush Guard Story, Mapes Terminated
This just in from CBS regarding the release of their 234 page Rathergate Report: Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard serv…
Trackback by bLogicus — Monday, January 10, 2024 @ 3:53 pm