Seattle Knows Mary Mapes

WSJ ^ | 10/04/04 | John Fund

[MB6.3]

JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL

The Producer Meet Mary Mapes, the crusading journalist behind CBS's current troubles.

Monday, October 4, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

SEATTLE--At a joint appearance over the weekend, the network news anchors began to circle the wagons in defense of the beleaguered Dan Rather. "There's a political jihad against Dan Rather and CBS," complained NBC's Tom Brokaw at a New York Public Library event Saturday. "It's a demagoguery unleashed on the Internet."

ABC's Peter Jennings then weighed in. "I think the attack on CBS is an attack on mainstream media, an attack on the so-called 'liberal media," he told the audience. Mr. Rather said CBS executives have asked him not to comment on the botched story involving fabricated memos about President Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service.

The reason he can't comment is that last Tuesday former attorney general Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press chief Louis Boccardi began their outside review of the "60 Minutes" foul-up. They began calling in CBS honchos for intense interrogations. New York's Daily News reports that among those summoned were CBS News president Andrew Heyward, Mr. Rather and Mary Mapes, the producer of the Rather segment on the memos.

Most viewers don't know that on TV newsmagazines producers like Ms. Mapes do most of the important reporting. The on-air correspondents normally just parachute into the story at the end. The "60 Minutes" National Guard segment was an exception. Mr. Rather has acknowledged that he was deeply invested in the story, and when he learned Ms. Mapes had gotten the documents from Bill Burkett, a controversial former National Guard lieutenant colonel, he asked Mr. Heyward to take charge.

[MB6.3]

Some of this may have been posted back when "Rathergate" broke, but it's good background on Mary. Very big deal here in Seattle. Had it not been for an embeded reporter with the Seattle Police, her attempted hatchet job on SPD (racial motivated killing, etc.) would have been successful. The woman is out to make news, not report it.

[Personal Responsibility]

ABC's Peter Jennings then weighed in. "I think the attack on CBS is an attack on mainstream media, an attack on the so-called 'liberal media,"

Jennings then looked down and noticed one of his shoes was off. A note saying "I am a leftist, socialist, israel hating palestinian supporter" was taped to it.

He tried the shoe on and it fit perfectly.

[highflight]

The MSM Trifecta's new epiphany: "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" by "my enemy" they mean the American people.

CBS, NBC and ABC = European Union of broadcasting: "If it hurts the USA we're for it."

[wrathof59]

"ABC's Peter Jennings then weighed in. "I think the attack on CBS is an attack on mainstream media, an attack on the so-called 'liberal media," he told the audience"

Yes sir, we are attacking on every front. No more free passes, no more monopoly on the flow of information.

An unrelenting frontal assault, Peter.

[eureka!]

"Yes sir, we are attacking on every front. No more free passes, no more monopoly on the flow of information. An unrelenting frontal assault, Peter."

And I would add: Oh, Peter, it is only going to get worse--much worse. Hehehehe....

[wmileo]

I agree, Brokaw and Jennings are so out of touch. Besides, even if they are correct and the attack is a full frontal one on the main stream media, why is that such as bad thing? If it OK for the media to be completely biases concerning Bush, then it follows that it is also OK for the American people to be critical of them

[Rummyfan]

The "60 Minutes" National Guard segment was an exception. Mr. Rather has acknowledged that he was deeply invested in the story, and when he learned Ms. Mapes had gotten the documents from Bill Burkett, a controversial former National Guard lieutenant colonel, he asked Mr. Heyward to take charge.

Thsi contradicts what I have been hearing the last 24 hours: Dan was tied up wit the Republican convention and the hurricanes in Florida. He just didn't have time to properly vet the story. BS CBS!

[CivilWarguy]

Seems to me that if CBS was really "fair and balanced" and wanted to refute accusations of bias, they could cite all the Bush supporters who work for "60 Minutes" and who worked on the Guard story. I think we all know why the don't.

[Clemenza]

Kiev County ping!

[vox_freedom]

Do any of you suppose that Mary Mapes might just return to Seattle environs?
It wouldn't surprise me, at all, to find her back at a Seattle TV station, CBS baggage and all...

[Tempest]

"ABC's Peter Jennings then weighed in. "I think the attack on CBS is an attack on mainstream media, an attack on the so-called 'liberal media,"

Uhhhhhhh If fabrication of the news and coordination with an opposing political campaign doesn't paint a picture of a 'liberal media'..... Heck I'm not really sure what else would qualify....

[Libertina]

She could ask Ron Sims to appoint her as elections supervisor... /s

[Ditto]

Question for all.

Did Mary Mapes have anything to do with Dan Rather's CBS Special Report back in the 1980s called "The Wall Within."?

As I recall the program, they interviewed a bunch of guys in the Pacific NW who claimed to be psychologically damaged as a result of their grisly combat experiences in Vietnam, but it turned out that none of them had any combat experience and only one had ever been in Vietnam but in a rear area far from any action. One claimed to be a SEAL who skinned people alive. He was never a SEAL and never in Vietnam but Rather ran the story and when it was proven to be a pack of lies, he stood by it and to this day has never retracted it.

Just curious if Mapes was involved in that slander of Vets. Sounds like her MO.

[vox_freedom]

She could ask Ron Sims to appoint her as elections supervisor... /s

Ha!
Or, chief document checker for his re-election campaign...

[kcvl]

"There's a political jihad against Dan Rather and CBS," complained NBC's Tom Brokaw at a New York Public Library event Saturday. "It's a demagoguery unleashed on the Internet."

And if you keep opening your stupid mouth, you will be next.

[vox_freedom]

...complained NBC's Tom Brokaw...
Brokaw and Jennings are so 1980's. Both should hang it up now and hand it over to a new generation and, hopefully, folks who understand the rightful place for opinion vs. reporting. Today the MSM is so absolutely biased on the opinion side and do a supremely poor job on the reporting side.