Rather statement:
Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in questionand their sourcevigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.
Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point whereif I knew then what I know nowI would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.
But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.
Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
This what the KERRY SPOT says on National Review:
WHAT CBS IS TELLING EMPLOYEES [09/20 11:57 AM]
Don't expect any bombshell admissions from CBS today.
According to an individual familiar with discussions inside CBS, network employees were told "pretty much what Drudge has - that they were deceived, the weren't trying to mislead the public, there will be an investigation into how this happened, etc." There will be a public announcement saying basically the same this afternoon.
CBS's leaders did not say anything about why they disregarded the warnings from their own experts, or mention anything about an apology to the president. They are still insisting that the premise of the story is correct and they'll still be pursuing it.
The individual suggests that CBS News executives are simply testing the public announcement on the employees to see "how it plays," and that right now there are no signs of Rather or anyone else falling upon his or her sword for the good of the network.
The signals from within CBS suggest that Rather is going to try to weather the storm and wait it out into a new news cycle. Could his ego ever allow anyone else to sit at the network's anchor desk on Election Night?
What a mess. All Pajamahadeen, please report to battlestations. Prepare to double the pressure on all affiliates, advertisers, and Viacom shareholders.