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CBS News Concludes It Was Misled on National Guard Memos, Network Officials Say
New York Times ^ | 9/20/04 | Jim Rutenberg

Posted on 09/19/2004 9:40:13 PM PDT by 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?''


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 60minutes; blatheringidiots; cbs; cbsnews; danblather; dopes; duped; forgery; killian; mapes; mapesthemope; marymapes; memogate; memos; msmapes; napalminthemorning; pajamahadeen; pajamaratti; rather; rathergate; schadenfreude; seebs; seebsnews
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To: finnman69
CBS News: Fake, But Accurate
501 posted on 09/20/2004 8:42:25 AM PDT by petercooper (All I wanted to know about Islam, I learned on 9-11-01.)
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

Maybe CBS got the documents for $5.00 on Canal Street in NYC.


502 posted on 09/20/2004 8:43:56 AM PDT by js1138 (Speedy architect of perfect labyrinths.)
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To: 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

This is essentially the equivalent of someone buying a "Rolex" watch out of the back of a truck in a WalMart parking lot, being told that the watch is "GenUWine" and insisiting that it is despite the fact that all your friends are laughing at you and the word "Rolex" is misspelled.



Actually, the DNC and CBS are playing three card monty in the back of the Wal-mart with Rather, Mapes, the TFT/DNC-Texas standing in the front of the store selling greening ROREX watches made in Hong Kong on a cardboard box.


503 posted on 09/20/2004 8:50:41 AM PDT by sully777 (Our descendants will be enslaved by political expediency and expenditure)
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To: YaYa123
How foolish and bitter Dan Rather looks now, for insulting FOXNEws at the airport today, asking that local FOXNews reporter if he didn't feel duped by working for FOX.

OH MAN!!! I hadn't heard about that one! Do you have a link.

504 posted on 09/20/2004 8:50:44 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (A Proud member of Free Republic ~~The New Face of the Fourth Estate since 1996.)
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To: All
Pardon me for my confusion....but some things are so obvious that it perplexes me - like I'm missing something....

seeBS has said that they have worked on this story for 5 years.
That means that they started before President Bush was elected in 2000. They clearly had nothing since in the course of 5 years they only thing they have come up with are some forged documents - that did not appear until 5 or six days before they decided to "run with it". Everyone who was easily available for interview and could have provided info for the past 5 years - says these documents are fake and that the sentiment contained in them does not reflect the sentiment of Lt col Killian (his wife, his son and Col Staudt). This information was gleaned in a weeks time. The Determination that these documents were fake was made within 60 minutes (pun intended) of the airing of the segment. The only 2 people who "verify" their story is a secretary who clearly is partisan and a guy with an ax to grind.

Here is where I am perplexed:
1. What the h*11 were they "researching for 5 freakin years?

2. How could they NOT think they would get caught with these documents? (I'm am starting to believe that CBS knew more than just a simple failure to verify the docs - I now believe they were in fact a willing participant - stalling does them no good)

3. How far does this really go and will there be serious consequences - or will they just get the old slap on the wrist?

To me there is only one conclusion that I can come to. The obvious - this was a deliberate attempt to affect the presidency and the outcome of the election. What other conclusion can there be? Just ask - who would have benefited from this story airing, had it not been questioned? What was the intended result of this story being aired? If this was just 15-20 yrs ago - before web forums and alternate news sources - they most likely could have gotten away with it.
505 posted on 09/20/2004 8:51:35 AM PDT by Newton ("Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem." -R. Reagan 1981)
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To: woodb01

Add this one.
Why didn't CBS interview Col. Walter (Buck) Staudt and ask him if he put pressure on Killian?


506 posted on 09/20/2004 8:54:33 AM PDT by rushfreedom
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To: LibWhacker
CBS News Concludes It Was Misled on National Guard Memos, Network Officials Say

Ya think? < /sarcasm >

Obviously the big story here is the national attention that Free Republic got during this story along with Dan Rather being exposed as the complete partisan retard that he is.

And hopefully this will be tracked down to DNC headquarters and right on John Kerry's doorstep. I believe I heard on the radio that Max Cleeland was deeply involved in this scandal, so we know Kerry/Edwards is not far removed.

507 posted on 09/20/2004 8:56:08 AM PDT by Dengar01
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To: NavySEAL F-16

e "sentiment in the memos accurately reflected Mr. Killian's feelings, but that the documents' authenticity is now in grave doubt."

"Does this reporter have any idea how ridiculous this sounds?"

What they talked to him beyond the grave? Even though his wife said he liked Bush, the exact opposite of what those memos show?


508 posted on 09/20/2004 8:58:15 AM PDT by Raven281
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To: Dengar01

Sounds like the producer (Mapes) is being set up as the fall guy.


509 posted on 09/20/2004 9:02:37 AM PDT by Akerber
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To: Akerber

I just made a trip over to DU (yeah, I need a shower) and it says it's down for maintenance. How much ya wanna bet they don't want us to see them drinking the Kool-Aid.


510 posted on 09/20/2004 9:05:16 AM PDT by GOP_Proud (Those who preach tolerance seem to have the least for my views.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
It's hard to get in right now....but go to

ratherbiased.com

They have the video of Dan, having the nerve and the stupidity to insult FOXNews after CBS' collosal screw up!!!

511 posted on 09/20/2004 9:13:55 AM PDT by YaYa123 (@Dan Rather Will Try To Gut This Disaster Out...Just Like Clinton.com)
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To: YaYa123

Thanks!


512 posted on 09/20/2004 9:23:53 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach (A Proud member of Free Republic ~~The New Face of the Fourth Estate since 1996.)
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To: LibWhacker

THe news that is not news, the communication outlet that does not communicate.


513 posted on 09/20/2004 9:36:19 AM PDT by JudgemAll
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To: GOP_Proud; Howlin
Major Garrett says that Burkett wa posted on DU a month ago and that anyone should have been able to find this with a cursory search. Now CBS defenders are saying "Bush's role in this is murky." Oh, the Karl Rove theory!

Now some shill for the media is on efending Rather.

These people are infuriating me.

514 posted on 09/20/2004 9:39:42 AM PDT by Miss Marple
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To: Miss Marple

Exactly. Richard Cohen is already on Fox, saying they were duped, they're a fine agency, blah blah blah.


515 posted on 09/20/2004 9:41:57 AM PDT by Howlin (What's the Font Spacing, Kenneth?)
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To: Howlin

Oh, that's Richard Cohen. Well, he is lying through his teeth.


516 posted on 09/20/2004 9:42:53 AM PDT by Miss Marple
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this is bs
they are trying to cover up something BIGGER
like DNC involvement!!!

we need to keep on pushing!


517 posted on 09/20/2004 9:49:04 AM PDT by KavMan
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To: Newton

It is clear that anyone who called Burkett an 'unimpeachable source' was indeed trying to mislead the viewers. This isn't over yet. Mapes hid the fact that some analysts questioned the validity of the documents. Rather knew the source was a discredited Democrat loonie. CBS clearly tried to mislead the viewers and his apology is NOT accepted.


518 posted on 09/20/2004 9:58:53 AM PDT by Marak (I am NOT a GOP Lawyer.)
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Comment #519 Removed by Moderator

"Where was everybody's judgment on that last day?''
We haven't seen the last day yet... on that last day, Rather will be fired.
George W. Bush will be reelected by a margin of at least ten per cent

520 posted on 09/20/2004 10:38:09 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=napalminthemorning)
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