Well, the fiasco seems to be ended. CBS has rightly investigated and, based on the facts uncovered, fired 4 high level executives. I applaud CBS for finally exposing at least part of the truth of the forged documents and Rather's denial over a long period of time. While we will never know for certain the motivations of the CBS people behind this journalistic lapse or lack of ethics that has sullied its reputation, concluding that they were motivated to do everything possible to unseat President Bush fits with their reputation as liberal activists. They were blinded by bias and a desire to defeat Bush.
CBS has determined they were wrong and heads have rolled. This is as it should be.
"As far as the question of reporting is concerned, the bottom line is that much of the September 8th broadcast was wrong, incomplete or unfair," Mr. Moonves, who is also chairman of CBS, said in a statement. "We deeply regret the disservice this flawed '60 Minutes' Wednesday report did to the American public, which has a right to count on CBS News for fairness and accuracy in all it does."
CBS reports:
"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.”
This contact, though it may have been requested by their informant, indicates a political bias. If no bias, Mapes wouldn't have done it.
Here's a blog devoted to the Rather-CBS affair, ratherbiased.com.
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