CBS Ousts 4 For Bush Guard Story

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(CBS) 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 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 “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

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.

The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, is stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News. The panel said a “myopic zeal” to be the first news organization to broadcast a groundbreaking story about Mr. Bush’s National Guard service was a key factor in explaining why CBS News had produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet the organization’s internal standards.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com …
 
This is a pretty good summary, from the report:

The most serious defects in the reporting and production of the September 8 Segment were:
  1. The failure to obtain clear authentication of any of the Killian documents from any document examiner;
  2. The false statement in the September 8 Segment that an expert had authenticated the Killian documents when all he had done was authenticate one signature from one document used in the Segment;
  3. The failure of 60 Minutes Wednesday management to scrutinize the publicly
    available, and at times controversial, background of the source of the documents, retired Texas Army National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett;
  4. The failure to find and interview the individual who was understood at the outset to be Lieutenant Colonel Burkett’s source of the Killian documents, and thus to establish the chain of custody;
  5. The failure to establish a basis for the statement in the Segment that the documents “were taken from Colonel Killian’s personal files”;
  6. The failure to develop adequate corroboration to support the statements in the Killian documents and to carefully compare the Killian documents to official TexANG records, which would have identified, at a minimum, notable inconsistencies in content and format;
  7. The failure to interview a range of former National Guardsmen who served with Lieutenant Colonel Killian and who had different perspectives about the documents;
  8. The misleading impression conveyed in the Segment that Lieutenant Strong had authenticated the content of the documents when he did not have the personal knowledge to do so;
  9. The failure to have a vetting process capable of dealing effectively with the
    production speed, significance and sensitivity of the Segment; and
  10. The telephone call prior to the Segment’s airing by the producer of the Segment to a senior campaign official of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry - a clear conflict of interest - that created the appearance of a political bias.
Once questions were raised about the September 8 Segment, the reporting thereafter was mishandled and compounded the damage done. Among the more egregious shortcomings during the aftermath were:
  1. The strident defense of the September 8 Segment by CBS News without adequately probing whether any of the questions raised had merit;
  2. Allowing many of the same individuals who produced and vetted the by-then
    controversial September 8 Segment to also produce the follow-up news reports
    defending the Segment;
  3. The inaccurate press statements issued by CBS News after the broadcast of the Segment that the source of the documents was “unimpeachable” and that experts had vouched for their authenticity;
  4. The misleading stories defending the Segment that aired on the CBS Evening News after September 8 despite strong and multiple indications of serious flaws;
  5. The efforts by 60 Minutes Wednesday to find additional document examiners who would vouch for the authenticity of the documents instead of identifying the best examiners available regardless of whether they would support this position; and
  6. Preparing news stories that sought to support the Segment, instead of providing accurate and balanced coverage of a raging controversy.
from:
nationalreview.com/kerry/kerry200501101048.asp
 
I find the list to be impressive and thorough. I didn’t think 4 people would be gone. Does anyone think they really learned their lesson? Will we see better and more balanced coverage on MSM. I avoid it, so let me know if that ever happens.
 
‘This is a rude awakening for CBS News,’ Moonves said, ‘and the CBS News culture has to change’…

CBS source to Tuesday NY TIMES: ‘We have no juice. We’re a dying business, and this didn’t help us. Some people feel like CBS News could be out of business in five years’…

drudgereport.com/
 
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Fitz:
I find the list to be impressive and thorough. I didn’t think 4 people would be gone. Does anyone think they really learned their lesson? Will we see better and more balanced coverage on MSM. I avoid it, so let me know if that ever happens.
Click to expand...
It’s a nuanced and half whitewash statement. No political bias indeed - whatta joke.

Mary Mapes will have a new job tomorrow, Dan is still going to collect his paycheck until spring and go out in a golden parachute–it’s a lot of paper, 15 minutes of media hype and doesn’t mean a thing.

Had this not been a media outlet and a standard corporation, heads would have rolled and I mean rolled and long before this.
 
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Fitz:
I find the list to be impressive and thorough. I didn’t think 4 people would be gone. Does anyone think they really learned their lesson?
Click to expand...
A liberal learning a lessen from practicing their 1st Dogma:
**“THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS!”**is an oxymoron.
Their Only Mortal Sin is:
GETTING CAUGHT!
The firings/resignations were for getting caught, not the many reasons (valid) listed in this thread.
The only lessen they learn by getting caught is:
"HOW CAN WE KEEP FROM GETTING CAUGHT THE NEXT TIME?"

Remember ABC’s GM Pickup truck gas tank fire staging?
They used an explosive because they couldn’t get the truck to ignite!
The only thing I like about Liberals is that their brain power rarely matches their mischievous agenda.
In any case,:
LONG LIVE THE NET BLOGGERS IN THEIR PJ’swho first blew the wistle on CBS. 👍
 
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HagiaSophia:
It’s a nuanced and half whitewash statement. No political bias indeed - whatta joke.

Mary Mapes will have a new job tomorrow, Dan is still going to collect his paycheck until spring and go out in a golden parachute–it’s a lot of paper, 15 minutes of media hype and doesn’t mean a thing.

Had this not been a media outlet and a standard corporation, heads would have rolled and I mean rolled and long before this.
Click to expand...
You are right on target! If they were a regular company the CEO would be gone. Rather should have been fired right away with no parachute of any kind.
 
Funny, Dan Rather kept his job?

So the real question. Were they all bias against the Repulicans? (Like DAH!)

A few scape goats took the fall to save the rest?

Thank God we have news from FOX! They admit who is bias in their news.

I stopped watching rags like CNN, HN, CBS, ABC, NBC when I got DishTV. I still watch ABC news when in locations without satellite or cable. I have also noticed liberals/secularists/non-Christians prefer CNN to FOX in places where I have worked.

Just a note, channel 5 in Salt Lake City is owned by the Mormon Church. Is it right for Christian churches to own TV like that? Would a Catholic owned station show products for birth control and commercials for abortion? Companies the provide Catholic insurance have been forced to provide birth control pills by the courts. How sad.😦
 
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