Posted on 09/20/2004 4:37:06 PM PDT by Angry Republican
(CBS) Below is the text of the CBS News statement on its use of documents purportedly written by President Bush's National Guard commander:
Bill Burkett, in a weekend interview with CBS News Anchor and Correspondent Dan Rather, has acknowledged that he provided the now-disputed documents used in the Sept. 8 "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard.
Burkett, a retired National Guard lieutenant colonel, also admits that he deliberately misled the CBS News producer working on the report, giving her a false account of the documents’ origins to protect a promise of confidentiality to the actual source.
Burkett originally said he obtained the documents from another former Guardsman. Now he says he got them from a different source whose connection to the documents and identity CBS News has been unable to verify to this point. Burkett’s interview will be featured in a full report on tonight’s CBS Evening News with Dan Rather (6:30-7:00 p.m., ET/PT).
In light of this and other developments reported by CBS News and other news organizations, CBS News President Andrew Heyward issued the following statement:
“'60 Minutes Wednesday' had full confidence in the original report or it would not have aired. However, in the wake of serious and disturbing questions that came up after the broadcast, CBS News has done extensive additional reporting in an effort to confirm the documents’ authenticity.
That included an interview featured on last week’s edition of "60 Minutes Wednesday" with Marian Carr Knox, secretary to the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, the officer named as the author of the documents; the interview with Bill Burkett to be seen tonight; and a further review of the forensic evidence on both sides of the debate.
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 the report. We should not have used them. That was a mistake, which we deeply regret. Nothing is more important to us than our credibility and keeping faith with the millions of people who count on us for fair, accurate, reliable, and independent reporting. We will continue to work tirelessly to be worthy of that trust.”
CBS News and CBS management are commissioning an independent review of the process by which the report was prepared and broadcast to help determine what actions need to be taken. The names of the people conducting the review will be announced shortly, and their findings will be made public.
geez dude this was posted hours ago
CBS failed to the F word. Those were forgeries, point, set, match.
President Bush should have a full apology from CBS and Dan Rather. I will never watch them again until they do so!!
Sounds like Rather is just passing the "lying ball" off to Burkett.
There, fixed it for them.
Sorry. Just found this out seconds ago.
This is another rather-lie.
Wish someone would ask dan his SOURCES for this statement about the Swift Vets, along with the question, were the same experts used to discredit them that were used to discredit a sitting President?
And, can we assume that the Swift Vets are no longer discredited since we now know the President was fraudulently accused?
Hey Dan....rumor has it that John Kerry refuses to release his full military records....and here you are...worrying about Bush, who HAS released his.
Wanna prove your statement that you at CBS do not show favoritism? LOL
INVESTIGATE KERRY's SERVICE RECORDS...find out if he got his honorable discharge 30 years LATE after a pardon by bill clinton...find out WHY if this is true....find out the facts regarding kerry's book...'The New Soldier'We won't be holding our breath!
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