Posted on 01/10/2005 8:57:57 AM PST by FreeTheHostages
Check out the actual investigatory panel report -- it credits Free Republic (accurately) for first questioning the authenticity of thye documents. The actual investigatory report can be seen
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Why was that post deleted?
I noticed that too. Where is the outrage from the feminazis?
I want a t-shirt with that badge.
Shopping for their vibrators and holding their ears chanting LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA.
I thought they did pretty good. They ate all the side dishes of their crow dinner. That's surprising. Of course they just couldn't eat that main course: political bias.
Me either. We haven't heard how much of a severance package all these people are getting. You don't become a scapegoat without being fairly well paid off to keep your mouth shut.
60 Minutes Wednesday personnel were well aware that the September 8 Segment addressed extremely sensitive issues – the incumbent President’s TexANG service record in the midst of an increasingly bitter Presidential campaign. Indeed, Rather regarded the Segment as “radioactive.” Accordingly, senior personnel within CBS News, including those at 60 Minutes Wednesday, fully expected that there would be many critics. However, they seriously underestimated the ferocity of the assaults on the documents and CBS News’ alleged motives in airing the Segment.
The attacks on the September 8 Segment began virtually immediately. One of the first came on freerepublic.com, a website:
[E]very single one of these memos to file is in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman. In 1972 people used typewriters for this sort of thing, and typewriters used monospaced fonts. The use of proportionally spaced fonts did not come into common use for office memos until the introduction of laser printers, word processing software, and personal computers. They were not widespread until the mid to late 90’s. Before then, you needed typesetting equipment, and that wasn’t used for personal memos to file. Even the Wang systems that were dominant in the mid 80’s used monospaced fonts. I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old.85
This was followed on the morning of September 9 by further attacks, mostly by bloggers with a conservative agenda, challenging the authenticity of the documents. These included stories on Powerlineblog.com86 and littlegreenfootballs.com.87 Finally, by about 3 p.m., Matt Drudge, the author of the widely read Drudge Report website, had joined the fray, and, thereafter, the onslaught of attacks on the authenticity of the Killian documents was unrelenting.
The initial attacks on the Killian documents focused on several technical issues. First, many critics claimed that the superscript “th” in the May 4, 1972 and August 18, 1973 memoranda did not exist on typewriters in the early 1970s.88 Second, others questioned the authenticity of the Killian documents because they displayed proportional spacing, which was...
85 Harry MacDougald, Documents Suggest Special Treatment for Bush in Guard, Sept. 8, 2004, at http://freerepublic.com/focuslf-news/1210662/posts?q=1&&page=1
86 See Powerline Wins, CBS Loses, Sept. 9, 2004, at http://powerlineblog.com/archives/2004-09.php. “Powerline” is a Minnesota-based blog run by John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson, both of whom are attorneys.
87 See Bush Guard Documents: Forgeries?, Sept. 9, 2004 at http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog1?entry=12524
88 Heyward was concerned early on about the superscript “th” issue. Thus, in the early evening of September 9, he had inquired of West: “What does Mapes say about the little ‘th’ that ABC mentioned?”
"It's almost a complete confession of wrongdoing."
The only obvious shortcoming is that they report there was no political bias driving the story. But, as I stated on another thread, bias is a strange thing. It is very hard to see by those perpetrating it.
That's not arguable, it's laughable.
Thanks Buckhead, they (MSM) don't give you enough credit.
5.56mm
? 60 Minutes Wednesday personnel were well aware that the September 8 Segment addressed extremely sensitive issues – the incumbent President’s TexANG service record in the midst of an increasingly bitter Presidential campaign. Indeed, Rather regarded the Segment as “radioactive.” Accordingly, senior personnel within CBS News, including those at 60 Minutes Wednesday, fully expected that there would be many critics. However, they seriously underestimated the ferocity of the assaults on the documents and CBS News’ alleged motives in airing the Segment.
The attacks on the September 8 Segment began virtually immediately. One of the first came on freerepublic.com, a website:
[E]very single one of these memos to file is in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman. In 1972 people used typewriters for this sort of thing, and typewriters used monospaced fonts. The use of proportionally spaced fonts did not come into common use for office memos until the introduction of laser printers, word processing software, and personal computers. They were not widespread until the mid to late 90’s. Before then, you needed typesetting equipment, and that wasn’t used for personal memos to file. Even the Wang systems that were dominant in the mid 80’s used monospaced fonts. I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old.85
This was followed on the morning of September 9 by further attacks, mostly by bloggers with a conservative agenda, challenging the authenticity of the documents. These included stories on Powerlineblog.com86 and littlegreenfootballs.com.87 Finally, by about 3 p.m., Matt Drudge, the author of the widely read Drudge Report website, had joined the fray, and, thereafter, the onslaught of attacks on the authenticity of the Killian documents was unrelenting.
The initial attacks on the Killian documents focused on several technical issues. First, many critics claimed that the superscript “th” in the May 4, 1972 and August 18, 1973 memoranda did not exist on typewriters in the early 1970s.88 Second, others questioned the authenticity of the Killian documents because they displayed proportional spacing, which was
I asked for it to be deleted.....in my enthusiasm re; FR being mentioned, I named only one individual for kudos....after reading further on the thread, I was reminded that more than one freeper was instrumental ....so I asked the mod to bail me out.
Actually the IBM Selectric Composer could type proportional fonts and superscript at that time.
The problem was:
It was a very expensive machine
You had to be trained on it
The superscript was alot of time and effort, including changing type ball
Perfect centering was very difficult and would not have been worth the trouble for a memo
etc etc
This site had a good breakdown on it.
http://shapeofdays.typepad.com/the_shape_of_days/2004/09/the_ibm_selectr.html
But past all that- the combined effort of pajamadeen on FR and elsewhere, in minutes did the fact-checking and simple tests that CBS should have done. Nothing CBS did passes the smell test, and they are still in denial.
No admission of bias, but frankly, while I am sure some at CBS DID have a bias, you can't just assume it. You have to prove it without there being other possibilities.
Ultimately, there are some things that definitely played a role, such as the rush to get the story on the air......and Mapes desperate for anything to get her the story after 4 years of hard work....plus the lack of oversight and involvement, and even basic journalism like checking the facts and credibility of sources.
And while I am sure bias had a part in some, I doubt it could have been proven, and I doubt all involved had a bias. Case in point that not everybody was bad: a producer named Yvonne raised questions about the report, but was not forceful enough to get it stopped.
I think it was MindBender who said former CBS colleagues were cussing on the phone today regarding this report.
Anybody who thinks it is a whitewash is just wrong.
It looks that way to us, but to anybody at CBS, this is really bad.
That's because Bankhead was the instigator who provided the documents to CBS as a way to undermine their prestige and repuation... < /end DU conspiracy>
At a small prison in California back in the early 80s a sharp-eyed reporter spotted two trustees and a guard return from a shopping trip with beer; after the story appeared in the Herald Examiner the warden was fired.
Smart advice. Too bad CBS didn't have the same attitude.
Interesting--the web address used in footnote doesn't work. The correct address is http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1210662/posts?page=47#47.
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