Posted on 09/20/2004 1:25:17 PM PDT by plushaye
NEW YORK (Reuters) - In an enormous blow to its credibility, CBS News on Monday said it had been misled over the authenticity of documents it aired in a story challenging President Bush (news - web sites)'s military service.
"Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic standard to justify using them in a report," CBS News said in a statement.
"We should not have used them. That was a mistake, which we deeply regret," the network said, adding that it had launched an internal investigation of the matter.
The announcement marked a dramatic and embarrassing reversal by the network that just five days ago said it was satisfied with the accuracy of the documents first aired earlier this month in a "60 Minutes II" segment.
The scandal put CBS on the list of American journalism icons tainted in recent years by lies masquerading as truth. Other casualties include The New York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, the New Republic, CNN and NBC. The Los Angeles Times has also had to apologize for a scandal that blurred the lines between news and advertising.
The admission by CBS News on Monday called into question both the credibility of what was once America's premier broadcast organization and that of its leading newsman, Dan Rather.
Rather has anchored the CBS Evening News since 1981, when he succeeded Walter Cronkite -- dubbed "the most trusted man in America" for his perceived honest, objective and level-headed approach to news.
In a separate statement, Rather apologized for what he called a "mistake in judgment" and said CBS News had been misled on the key question of how its source for the documents had obtained the papers.
'MILESTONE' IN AMERICAN MEDIA
The four memos, purportedly written and signed by the late Air National Guard Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, said that he was under pressure from his superiors to "sugar coat" Bush's service record after Bush, then a Guard pilot, was grounded for his failure to perform to standards or to take a physical.
Immediately after the original report aired, Bush supporters and competing news organizations challenged the authenticity of the documents.
They said that comparisons of the Killian memos with other documents from Bush's National Guard service revealed inconsistencies in terminology and word processing techniques.
Bush has never fully accounted for his service during the Vietnam War, when he was given a much-coveted place in the National Guard while many of his peers were drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam.
The matter has dogged him during earlier political campaigns but this year blew up into a major issue as his Democratic rival John Kerry (news - web sites) made much of his own decorated service during the war.
Orville Schell, dean of the graduate school of journalism at the University of California-Berkeley, called CBS's admission "a milestone moment in American media, a clash between the old and the new."
He explained that even as CBS stood by its story, a growing chorus of experts and so-called bloggers was saturating the Internet with criticism of the documents' authenticity.
Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota, predicted further fallout at CBS News, although she said the situation appeared different from recent cases of journalists' deception at The New York Times and USA Today.
"At this point they look like dupes and that's not good for any news organization, especially CBS," she said. "It all underscores the idea that the major news media, at least some of them, have lost their system of checks and balances to verify, to authenticate."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the network's public acknowledgment did not settle the issue.
"We appreciate that they deeply regret it but there's still serious questions that need to be answered," McClellan told reporters at a Bush campaign venue in Derry, New Hampshire. He said the source of the documents needed to be investigated.
No honor among thieves I suppose.
Here is my Kinkos fax to Dan Rather:
Area 51
Navada, Texas
P.O. Box 12345
Dear Sirs,
We have examined the bodies and craft of confirmed crashed space aliens and have discovered that the current president George Bush is in fact an alien from outer space.
Signed,
Col. Kilian
September 1, 1945
except for this crap ...
"Bush has never fully accounted for his service during the Vietnam War, when he was given a much-coveted place in the National Guard while many of his peers were drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam.
The matter has dogged him during earlier political campaigns but this year blew up into a major issue as his Democratic rival John Kerry (news - web sites) made much of his own decorated service during the war. "
They just can't let it go.
I have no recollection of that memo!
Perhaps we can get Dan the News man to investigate.
A good news organization cannot be misled if it follows journalistic standards of verification. It can only be "misled" if it is WILLING to be misled. And that is what happened here. But this apology means nothing if they don't follow up and find out who misled them and why.
So is watching CBS or reading Reuters.
Fortunately, they are mistakes that very few people will make in the future.
Bush has never fully accounted for his service during the Vietnam War, when he was given a much-coveted place in the National Guard while many of his peers were drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam.
&&&
Sounds like Greg Frost didn't learn about objectivity in journalism school either.
Hey, Rather, resign and take your producer Mapes with you.
You beat me to it by about the amount of time it took me to write and submit my post!
seeBS was not 'misled' they CHOSE TO IGNORE their own experts who questioned the validity of the documents.
they CHOSE THIS PATH- they were not 'misled'
even when it became obvious that the documents were forgeries they still stuck to their guns.
If they were 'misled' where is their outrage at the source of the documents who have then single-handedly brought down seeBC and Ted Baxter- I mean Dan RATher.
"In an enormous blow to its credibility, CBS News on Monday said it had been misled..."
Yes, but Reuters is having its own gloatfest. Much of the MSM is enjoying watching the humiliation of Gunga Dan today.
"In an enormous blow to its credibility, CBS News on Monday said it had been misled over the authenticity of documents . . ."
OK CBS, who mislead you? Who gave you the documents? Trace them back to their origins, if you really care about your credibility.
On the other hand, maybe the truth will hurt you too much. If you really care about your credibility, you may be better off stonewalling or lying.
Gee, that's quite a list, isn't it? Let's see, who are we missing here? Well, the Boston Globe certainly deserves to be on the list, but somehow escaped mention. Looks like ABC is not listed (somewhat surprising, though I can't think of any scandals they've been involved in), nor is FOX (not surprising - or maybe it is, considering the source of the piece).
"OK CBS, who mislead you? Who gave you the documents? Trace them back to their origins, if you really care about your credibility."
I was asking on another post about the strange silence of USA Today on this. They know as much as CBS because they had the same contacts and the same forged docs. There's a story from USAT that still needs to be told.
Will the source of these docs please wheel himself forward.
Allow me to translate CBS' statement into English: "If that moron Burkett had used a vintage typewriter and took the time to examine one or two bono fide TANG memos released by the White House, we would have had nothing to apologize for."
It is another lie. Guy on Fox this morning stated that the ANG was begging for pilots.
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!
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