CBS News Concludes It Was Misled on National Guard Memos, Network Officials Say

New York Times ^ | 9/20/04 | Jim Rutenberg

[LibWhacker]

After days of expressing confidence about the documents used in a "60 Minutes'' report that raised new questions about President Bush's National Guard service, CBS News officials have grave doubts about the authenticity of the material, network officials said last night.

Those officials, who asked not to be identified, said CBS News would most likely make an announcement as early as today that it had been deceived about the documents' origins, and that it was mounting an intensive news investigation of where they came from.

But these people cautioned that CBS News could still pull back from an announcement. Officials were meeting last night with Dan Rather, the anchor who presented the report, to go over the information it has collected about the documents one last time before making a final decision.

People at the network said it was now possible that officials would open a formal internal inquiry into how it moved forward with the report, which officials now say they are beginning to believe was too flawed to have gone on the air.

The report relied in large part on four memorandums purported to be from the personal file of Mr. Bush's squadron commander, Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, who died 20 years ago. The memos, dated from the early 1970's, said that Colonel Killian was under pressure to "sugar coat'' the record of the young Lieutenant Bush and that the officer had disobeyed a direct order to take a physical.

Mr. Rather and others at the network are said to still believe that the sentiment in the memos accurately reflected Mr. Killian's feelings, but that the documents' authenticity is now in grave doubt.

The developments last night marked a dramatic turn for CBS News, which for a week stood steadfastly by its Sept. 8 report as various document experts asserted that the typeface of the memos could have been produced only by a modern-day word processor, not Vietnam War-era typewriters.

The seemingly unflappable confidence of Mr. Rather and top news division officials in the documents allayed fears within the network and created doubt among some in the news media at large that those specialists were correct. CBS News officials had said they had reason to be certain that the documents indeed came from the personal file of Colonel Killian.

Sandy Genelius, a network spokeswoman, said last week, "We are confident about the chain of custody; we're confident in how we secured the documents.''

But officials decided yesterday that they would most likely have to declare that they were misled about the records' origin after Mr. Rather and a top network executive, Betsy West, met in Texas with a man who was said to have helped the news division obtain the memos, a former Guard officer named Bill Burkett.

Mr. Rather interviewed Mr. Burkett on camera this weekend, and several people close to the reporting process said his answers to Mr. Rather's questions led officials to conclude that their initial confidence that the memos came from Mr. Killian's own files was not warranted. These people indicated that Mr. Burkett had previously led the producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, to have the utmost confidence in the material.

It was unclear last night whether Mr. Burkett told Mr. Rather that he had been misled about the documents' provenance or that he had been the one who did the misleading.

In an e-mail message yesterday, Mr. Burkett declined to answer any questions about the documents.

Yesterday, Emily J. Will, a document specialist who inspected the records for CBS News and said last week that she had raised concerns about their authenticity with CBS News producers, confirmed a report in Newsweek that a producer had told her that the source of the documents had said they were obtained anonymously and through the mail.

During an interview last night she declined to name the producer who told her this but said that the producer had been in a position to know. CBS News officials have disputed her contention that she warned the network the night before the initial "60 Minutes'' report that it would face questions from documents experts.

In the coming days CBS News officials plan to focus on how the network moved ahead with the report when there were warning signs that the memorandums were not genuine.

Ms. Will is one of two documents experts consulted by the network who said they raised doubts about the material before the segment was broadcast. Another expert, Marcel B. Matley, said in interviews that he had only vouched for Colonel Killian's signatures on the records and not the authenticity of the records themselves. Mr. Matley said he could not rule out that the signatures were cut and pasted from official records pertaining to Colonel Killian.

In examining where the network went wrong, officials at CBS News were turning their attention to Ms. Mapes, one of their most respected producers, who was riding particularly high this year after breaking news about the Abu Ghraib prison scandal for the network.

In a telephone interview this weekend, Josh Howard, the executive producer of the "60 Minutes'' Wednesday edition, said he did not initially know who was Ms. Mapes' primary source for the documents but that he did not see any reason to doubt them. He said he believed Ms. Mapes and her team had appropriately answered all questions about the documents' authenticity and, he noted, no one seemed to be casting doubt upon the essential thrust of the report.

"The editorial story line was still intact, and still is, to this day,'' he said, "and the reporting that was done in it was by a person who has turned in decades of flawless reporting with no challenge to her credibility.''

He added, "We in management had no sense that the producing team wasn't completely comfortable with the results of the document analysis.''

Ms. Mapes has not responded to requests for comment.

Mr. Howard also said in the interview that the White House did not dispute the veracity of the documents when it was presented them on the morning of the report. That reaction, he said, was "the icing on the cake'' of the other reporting the network was conducting on the documents. White House officials have said they saw no reason to challenge documents that had been presented by a credible news organization.

Several people familiar with the situation said that they were girding for a particularly tough week for Mr. Rather and the news division should the network announce its new doubts.

One person close to the situation said the critical question would be, "Where was everybody's judgment on that last day?''

[Lancey Howard]

Do you think it would work if Rather claimed he has just been diagnosed with Alzheimers?

I'm sure Dan could come up with a note from a doctor, no problem.

[Illuminatas]

No, I am Buckhead.

[MeekOneGOP]

---

FreeRepublic.com has the HIGHEST number of new signups this week EVER since records have been kept!

This week, we had 2,313 signups.

The old record was the week of week of 3-17-2004, when we had 1,972 new signups (if my Excel spreadsheet tallied them all up correctly):

Chart: Signups

Chart: Signups
Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
2004.09.13	280	329	367	390	369	303	275
2004.09.06	203	201	169	249	277	345	242
2004.08.30	157	161	159	178	204	223	133
< snip >
2003.03.24	343	253	281	214	202	181	153
2003.03.17	182	257	333	350	289	248	313
2003.03.10	153	149	155	149	120	126	114

[OldFriend]

I prefer America haters as the definition of the mainstream media. ALL of them.

[vox_freedom]

His contract runs out in 2006. Rather is not the issue. The issue is forgery and whether or not the DNC or the Kerry campaign is implicated. Absolutely correct. Who knew what, and how? And when they lied, who was responsible along the chain? This whole Rather affair stinks and the smell leads to the DNC via Max Cleland and Clinton's appointee McAufful et al. When and if Kerry's campaign henchmen were involved is another aspect of this sordid story that needs to be revealed.

[dodger]

Time to outfit Mary Mapes in Victoria's Secret headgear ....

[4Liberty]

....Another earthquake for the M.S.M.

Buh-bye CBS & other propaganda outlets...

[cdrw]

The investigation should a criminal one conducted by whatever law enforcement agency has jurisdiction over such forgeries and fraud. Maybe throw in an FCC investigation as well.

There is clearly a question of CBS' complicity in this but it also appears that a very serious crime has been committed in an effort to influence a US election. Criminal charges should be filed.

[Happy2BMe]

"This week, we had 2,313 signups."

Spreadsheet Man has spoken . .

(Ping on #483)

[Happy2BMe]

Mary, Mary quite contrary . . .

[lonevoice]

He will issue an apology, his regrets, and "offer to take full responsibility".

I think you've nailed it. That will be the substance of his non-apology. But, I believe he'll still add the line that "CBS believes the documents express Killian's true feelings."

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

I thought the facade would go a little longer.

[Big Guy and Rusty 99]

Does this mean that Burkett goes to manrape prison for falsifying federal documents?

[Califelephant]

If these documents were connected to the DNC or the Kerry campaign, I want to know about it. If they weren't, I want to know that too. Just give us the truth (for a change), CBS.

[Teacher317]

Wow

[austinaero]

How much you wanna bet that whatever "excuse" CBS comes up with for this story,,the DNC has already seen the remarks beforehand....?

[knuthom]

Sandy Genelius, a network spokeswoman, said last week, "We are confident about the chain of custody; we're confident in how we secured the documents.''
(snip)
Yesterday, Emily J. Will, a document specialist who inspected the records for CBS News and said last week that she had raised concerns about their authenticity with CBS News producers, confirmed a report in Newsweek that a producer had told her that the source of the documents said they had been obtained anonymously and through the mail.

They are confident about the "chain of custody" of papers received anonymously through the mail?

Come on, CBS, you can't have it both ways. You either are confident because you know where they came from or they were obtained anonymously - but not both.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Motive and opportunity. Once one reaches the proper conclusion that their motive is to see President Bush defeated in November, everything else falls into place. It is amazing, however, that they would stick with such a childish explanation, i.e. "our theory is correct, but we couldn't find any evidence, so even though we fabricated our evidence, you should still believe our theory". Utter nonsense that not even a high school student would believe.

[sully777]

There is enough evidence of a distinct connection between the Dems, TFT, and CBS to break existing 527 laws, not to mention that Rather has broken ethical rules with his involvement in DNC-Texas fundraising. Add to this mixture the fact Rather, Mapes and the 60 Minutes II staff vetted out all "pro-Bush" interviews to skew (screw) a major story. And you have a full-blown scandal. Are you listening Chris Wallace?

There is forgery of military records. There is a forged name. There is a conspiracy to present said documents to mislead the public. And now there is a conspiracy to conceal the truth (they used to call this a cover-up in the MSM) from the public on the part of CBS. Time to call in law enforcement and Pentagon officials.

In an alternative universe, Mike Wallace follows Dan Rather around harrassing him with embarrassing questions, heckling and taunting his answers. Then afterward, Mike manipulates the interview tape to make Rather look like the incarnation of Satan. The House and Senate call for hearings. Burkett, Barnes, Rather, Mapes, Van Os, and the rest of the Kinkos Fax Crew go to prison. CBS is relegated to Entertainment Tonight status.

[thulldud]

Again, it depends on context. "Editorial" as an adjective refers to content that is not advertising. "Editorial", noun, is an opinion piece. That's all.