STATEMENT OF MARY MAPES

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 1/10/05 | MARY MAPES

[Brilliant]

I am terribly disappointed in the conclusions of the report and its effects on the four of us who will no longer work at CBS News....

I am shocked by the vitriolic scape-goating in Les Moonves’s statement. I am very concerned that his actions are motivated by corporate and political considerations -- ratings rather than journalism. Mr. Moonves’s response to the review panel’s report and the panel’s assessment of the evidence it developed in its investigation combine not only to condemn me, but to put all investigative reporting in the CBS tradition at risk.

Much has been made about the fact that these documents are photocopies and therefore cannot be trusted, but decades of investigative reporting have relied on just such copies... In vetting these documents, we did not have ink to analyze, original signatures to compare, or paper to date. We did have context and corroboration and believed, as many journalists have before and after our story, that authenticity is not limited to original documents. Photocopies are often a basis for verified stories.

Before the Bush/Guard story aired, the newly found documents that supported it were thoroughly examined and corroborated. The contents of the new documents mesh perfectly, in large ways and small, with all previously known records. The new documents also were corroborated by retired Gen. Bobby Hodges, the late Col. Killian’s commander, who said that the 2 documents showed Col. Killian’s true sentiments... After the broadcast, Marian Carr Knox provided the same corroboration in her televised interview. Yet, despite the panel’s recognition of the heretofore unchalleneged integrity of my work in the past, the panel was quick to condemn me here on the basis of statements of people who told my associates and me very different versions than what they told the panel...

[OXENinFLA]

his actions are motivated by corporate and political considerations -- ratings rather than journalism

And this is MAPES saying this?!?

HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

But I guess she wasn't looking for ratings when she ran that hit piece, she was trying to make sure her man Kerry won the Presidential election.

[mgc1122]

[Drango]

It is noteworthy the panel did not conclude that these documents are false.

The new liberal talking point....

[Mike Bates]

. . . I can only emphasize my own honesty and integrity. . .

Might as well. No one else will.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[angkor]

That Mapes won't admit she was rolled with fake documents prove her firing was just.

[elhombrelibre]

She brings up a bunch of red herrings about the original documents (of course there are none) and these copies, and says nothing about the fact that Free Republic's own poster, the Honorable buckhead, debunked the whole story in just a few hours. Mary Mapes, at long last, have you no sense of decency?

[nuconvert]

Denial

[Brilliant]

They did not conclude the documents were false...

Yes, and that just reinforces the perception that this was a whitewash, just as does their conclusion that the false report was not politically motivated. It also reinforces the perception of liberal bias at CBS.

These guys have done very little, if anything, to redeem their credibility with this report.

[Arkie2]

"to put all investigative reporting in the CBS tradition at risk".


What tradition would that be? Falsifying documents and deploying partisan political hit squads?

[alrea]

I believe the segment presented to the American people facts they were free to accept or reject, and that as those facts were presented, there was nothing that was false or misleading.

Maybe she was fired for wasting time?

[ProudVet77]

I posted this earlier:
(Rather's) confidence in Mapes may have led him to go with the story, despite the red flags. After all, it was Mapes who brought CBS the Abu Ghraib photos of prisoner abuse and who risked jail by refusing to turn over videotapes of Rather's interview with a man charged in the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas.
But Mapes' father sees a political agenda behind his daughter's work. Don Mapes, 76, was a recent guest on a radio talk show hosted by John Carlson on KVI in Seattle.
He said, "I'm really ashamed of what my daughter has become. She's a typical liberal. She went into journalism with an ax to grind, and that was to promote radical feminism."
He confessed to being disappointed in his daughter's role in the controversy. He said, "When I heard about 60 Minutes, I suspected she would be the producer of the show."

[OXENinFLA]

Denial

At CBS it's not just a river in Egypt, it's the status quo...........

[The Sons of Liberty]

Once again, I would like to thank Buckhead for immediately exposing the falsehood attempted to be perpetrated by CBS.

[woofer]

his actions are motivated by corporate and political considerations -- ratings rather than journalism

And this is MAPES saying this?!?

Wanna prove your motives were pure, Mapes?

Turn over your rolodex so we can see in the Bush campaign was in there like Lockhart's number was.

[An Old Marine]

So the new logic seems to be that in the absence of definite proof that they made up a story based on faked evidence their fairy tales stands.

I can only hope that they keep this kind of crap up. By 2012 the Democratic party will consist of whatever votes they can muster in Boston and San Francisco.

[bmwcyle]

What did they know and when did they know it?

[Bryher1]

Mapes believes falsehoods are being reported about her nationwide... how delightfully ironic.

[mainepatsfan]

I still don't think that angle of the scandal has been explored enough. What was the connection between her and the Kerry campaign? Don't forget the Kerry campaign had ads based on that story ready to go right after her piece was run.

[nuconvert]

"At CBS it's not just a river in Egypt, it's the status quo..........."

Ain't that the truth