Don Hewitt faults CBS report (says Rather wrong to air guard story)

© 2004 The Post-Standard ^ | Friday, October 22, 2004 | By William LaRue

[Behind Liberal Lines]

SYRACUSE NY--Lump "60 Minutes" creator and executive producer Don Hewitt with critics of the TV news magazine's recently discredited report on President Bush's military service.

At a Syracuse University media panel Thursday, he faulted the way the Sept. 8 segment was produced by the separate CBS News team that runs a Wednesday spin-off of "60 Minutes."

The second, he said, was the decision to go ahead and air the report, hosted by anchor Dan Rather, alleging the documents showed Bush got special treatment while serving in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.

". . . I don't know why they decided they had such a hot story," he told about 250 people packed into a TV studio at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

Also taking part in the panel were three SU graduates - "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft; Dianne Doctor, news director at WCBS-TV in New York City; and Angela Robinson, host and executive producer of Atlanta public TV show "In Contact."

The panel, which included questions from the audience, was one of several public forums held Thursday as part of a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Newhouse School.

Although heworks for "60 Minutes," Kroft said he had no first-hand knowledge of what went wrong with the Guard story because it was produced by a separate news team.

But he added, "The first, middle and last thing you do with sources is try to determine the credibility of the source."

[Cincinatus]

I don't know why they decided they had such a hot story,"

Wishful thinking?

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Something for the Today Show ping listers?

[Brilliant]

I feel that this Rathergate story is being swept under the rug. We need for FreeRepublic to run a few flashbacks as the election approaches to remind the Freepers what we're up against.

[pheasant]

"Kroft, who is preparing an updated profile of Comedy Central's Jon Stewart for this Sunday's "60 Minutes," agreed with the comedian's recent harsh assessment that much of cable news programming isn't really news."

They have the nerve to say that cable news isn't really news.

Thanks for the post!

[Area51]

But he added, "The first, middle and last thing you do with sources is try to determine the credibility of the source."

---

They knew full well the credibility of the source, he was a publicity hound that had been in the press for years railing against Bush, on top of that the source himself questioned the documents.

There was one reason for this airing, Dan Rather's political bias. You don't work for 4 years on a story and then run it on such crap as documents your experts question.


This so reminds me of Clinton's Bombing raids the evening of his Lewinski testimony, and the Bombing in Iraq the SAME exact day articles of Impeachment were voted out of the House of Representatives.

Eveyone knows why, but no one in a Position of Authority dares speak it.

[Paloma_55]

Rathergate?

Swept under the rug??

What rug???

What is Rathergate????

I don't see anything about it in the newspapers. Are you sure you aren't just making this up?!?!?!?

:)

[bmwcyle]

They believed in what they created that was a Frankenstein.

[Jeff F]

(Jon Stewart's) recent harsh assessment that much of cable news programming isn't really news.

Don't want to sound harsh or anything but, much of Stewart's comedy programming isn't really comedic either.

[anniegetyourgun]

Hewitt is a bigger dunce than Rather if he doesn't know the answer to that question....

[Aegedius]

"Hewitt said he thought the national evening newscasts on NBC, CBS and ABC might be doomed in the near future because people can find the same information hours earlier from the Internet and cable news channels DNC."

[Sloth]

The question Rather won't answer is why he called Burkett an "unimpeachable source."

[Behind Liberal Lines]

fyi

[Eric in the Ozarks]

The first, middle and last thing you do is don't overlook the obvious. Rather wasn't after a "scoop." His bias was showing, that's all.