Independent Review Panel Examining CBS News '60 Minutes Wednesday' (RATHERGATE)

Yahoo ^ | 1/10/04

[Valin]

ping

[sitetest]

"The panel was comprised of..."

Tough to keep reading when these "professional journalists" make such a bonehead mistake in the opening paragraph.

[TUX]

Never addressed the main issue...CBS illegally tried to influence the outcome of a presidential election.

[Valin]

For more
Rathergate report to be released at 10 am eastern!!
wtmj | 1/10/2005 | milwguy2303



http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1317686/posts

[Bulgaricus]

Yeah, what about closing down CBS or selling it to either Fox or Sinclair networks? Might be a good deal.

[FilthyHands]

Sr. Vice President Betsy West, Exec Producer Josh Howard, Sr. Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy, and last but not least Producer Mary Mapes - CANCELLED!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

No political bias found. I'm surprised they took three months...

[stylin_geek]

I'm astonished at how bloody the housecleaning was at CBS. Although Dan should have been fired and I think it is completely disingenous to underestimate how much influence Dan had with this report.

Remember, there is bad blood between President Bush 41 and Rather, because of the interview where Pres. Bush asked Rather if he wanted his entire career judged by the time he (Rather) walked off the air and left the set empty for 7 minutes. And there is no way you can ever convince me that Rather would not try to get back at 41 through President GW Bush.

[Valin]

I think they'd say that because Danny's stepping down, there was no need to take any action on him.

[fish hawk]

I must have missed it. Who'd he say was going to jail?

[Ben Hecks]

"As far as the question of reporting is concerned, the bottom line is that much of the September 8th broadcast was wrong, incomplete or unfair."

"much"? Sounds like a further attempt to avoid admitting that the documents were total fakes.

[MamaLucci]

Never addressed the main issue...CBS illegally tried to influence the outcome of a presidential election.

3rd from the last paragraph shovels this BS.....

We are also gratified that the Panel, after extensive analysis and consideration, has found that, while CBS News made numerous errors of judgment and execution in this story, these mistakes were not motivated by any political agenda. As the Report states, "The Panel does not find a basis to accuse those who investigated, produced, vetted or aired the Segment of having a political bias."

[Valin]

On what charges?

[IncPen]

[The_Victor]

The Panel found that Dan Rather was pushed to the limit in the week before the September 8th broadcast. He was finishing up the anchoring job at the 2004 Republican Convention and was covering Hurricane Frances in Florida. He asked the right questions initially, but then made the same errors of credulity and over-enthusiasm that beset many of his colleagues in regard to this segment. He was convinced that the documents were authenticated because he was told in no uncertain terms that this was so. He defended the story over-zealously afterwards; again, he believed in a star associate with whom he had worked often, and to award-winning result. The Panel has found that his unwillingness to consider that CBS News and his colleague were in the wrong was a mistake, and that the broadcast would have benefited from a more direct involvement on Rather's part.

Dan Rather has already apologized for the segment and taken personal responsibility for his part in the broadcast. He voluntarily moved to set a date to step down from the CBS Evening News anchor chair in March of 2005, which will give him more time to concentrate on his reporting for CBS NEWS. After examining the report and thinking about its implications, we believe any further action would not be appropriate.

Poor Dan. Look at how hard he was working. And he's already suffered enough as a result of the story. C^BS is covering Dan's @$$. I'd be pretty ticked if I we one of the ones being terminated.

[mom-7]

CBS news is biased and this report will not cure what ails them. I will never believe anything that comes out of CBS news. And, I do include the the other networks in my organizations of un-believeability.

[fish hawk]

Independent news media trying to unseat a sitting President with the use of false documents. I heard that was against the law.

[Niteranger68]

And President Bush and the family of Lt. Col. Killian will be receiving their apologies when???

[Valin]

Civil law, not criminal law. The problem is George Bush is a public figure and so Sullivan V NY Times applys, and that makes it very hard to get a conviction.