CBS News Fights to Restore Credibility

ABC News ^ | Sept. 16, 2004 | AP

[NewMediaFan]

NEW YORK Sept. 16, 2004 — CBS News is trying to restore its credibility after a week of questions about its report on President Bush's National Guard service yet it may never conclusively know whether it was duped by fake documents.

The news division has acknowledged for the first time questions about the authenticity of documents used to support the story, and it has promised a stepped-up effort to get at the truth.

"They could have saved themselves a good deal of negative publicity and attacks if they had said that from the beginning," said Charlotte Grimes, a Syracuse University professor with a specialty in political reporting.

Internet watchdogs were the first to raise questions about last week's report, and CBS anchor Dan Rather's critics have been buzzing ever since.

An editorial cartoon in the Birmingham News pictured a dour-looking Rather saying on camera, "There is not an anti-Bush media bias. And here's a memo to prove it."

[Inge_CAV]

"An editorial cartoon in the Birmingham News pictured a dour-looking Rather saying on camera, "There is not an anti-Bush media bias. And here's a memo to prove it."

LOL! Say Goodnight, Capt Dan!

You or your bias will not be missed.

[muir_redwoods]

Chant with me now:

CAN DAN, CAN DAN, CAN DAN....

[keat]

"CBS News Fights to Restore Credibility"

The Titanic is unsinkable.

Donner party upbeat after successful Sierra crossing.

[pt17]

IMHO, there's a reasonable chance that little will come of this other than perhaps some dip in Rather's ratings. The strategy of CBS and the DNC is to label all who disagree with Rather on the documents as partisans. Most of the media will say they're probably fake but short of a grand jury investigation, which won't happen in the near future, the status of the documents will remain as probably, but not definitively, fake - essentially a stalemate.

Thus, the question about Bush will remain somewhat, if not all the way, open, which was probably the CBS/DNC objective all along. As others have said, it provides some inoculation against further SBVFT adds. The best way to overcome this question is to tie the forgeries to Kerry and a most conclusive manner.

[CT]

That's gonna leave a mark!

[happydogdesign]

[Dont Mention the War]

Witness the focus on the authenticity of paper and ink, rather than the information contained.

All DUers have sex with goats.

What's that? How do you know it's not true? Because you read it on FR? Witness the focus on where it was posted, rather than the information it contains!

[newsworthy]

All Rathergate means to CBS is that they must be more careful to find better forgeries.

This has a horrible ring of truth to it.

[S.O.S121.500]

CAN DAN, CAN DAN, CAN DAN....

As a Marine I think SH!T CAN DAN, SH!T CAN DAN, SH!T CAN DAN, SH!T CAN DAN, .................would be appropriate.

[shield]

bmp

[IamConservative]

As they say in Dan's home state, may as well call in the dogs and piss on the fire, this hunt's over.

[GeorgiaYankee]

CBS News: They Distort, WE DERIDE!

I can't wait for the article: Associated Press Fights to Restore Credibility

[Dante3]

What Rather did is beyond outrageous. And it just doesn't make sense. Is Rather mentally ill?

If you are going to forge documents, why not about an issue that matters. Why about some long ago non-issue?

Even if the charges were true, Bush has a far better military record than Clinton who has none. Voters don't care about those old NG charges.

[ShandaLear]

CBS: Fast, Accurate, Cheap

Pick two.

[southland]

ping

[dr_who_2]

CBS won't make any headway until they figure out exactly who or what it is they are fighting.

[Enchante]

CBS continues to prove their objectivity and impartiality by publishing the story linked below, which reads like a press release from the DNC. No critical or non-Democratic sources are quoted, not even a token or two! The CBS 'reporter' has simply written up the latest DNC talking points as a so-called "news article:"

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/16/politics/main643960.shtml

So, we are to believe (according to CBS) that everything is hunky-dory with the Kerry campaign -- talk about drinking the kool-aid right from the source.

[bootyist-monk]

[tioga]

you need to send that one to dan himself...LOL

[Veto!]

Wonderful! Wonderful! Your original? Or?
I foresee a long trip around the Net for this cover!