CBS report fires 4, but fails to see bias - (Cal Thomas nails this one!)

JEWISH WORLD REVIEW.COM ^ | JANUARY 11, 2005 | CAL THOMAS

[CHARLITE]

An independent commission has found CBS News guilty of "myopic zeal" in its airing of possibly forged documents that suggested President Bush lied about his service in the National Guard. A 224-page report, whose chief authors were former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press Chief Executive Officer Louis D. Boccardi, claimed that the pressure of getting the story before competitors, and not political bias, was responsible for the lapse in journalistic judgment.

And Watergate was a "third-rate burglary."

This is the Watergate equivalent of locking up the men who conducted the break-in at Democratic Party headquarters, but ignoring Attorney General John Mitchell, Vice President Spiro Agnew and President Richard Nixon, which CBS News and Dan Rather famously did not do.

While the report recommends certain structural changes within the news division, such as naming a standards and practices executive, reducing competitive pressure, telling senior management the names of confidential sources and appointing a separate team to look into disputed news reports, there were no recommendations about changing the ideological biases inherent at CBS News.

CBS won't say if it will act on those recommendations, because CBS sees no bias, hears no bias and speaks no bias. End of story. But the public sees it, which is one reason why CBS News remains dead last in the ratings.

[claudiustg]

---An independent commission has found CBS News guilty of "myopic zeal" in its airing of possibly forged documents that suggested President Bush lied about his service in the National Guard.---

''possibly forged documents"...

[MJY1288]

What bothers me most about the CBS report is the fact that they didn't admit the documents were forgeries, and that Mary Mapes and Dan Rather were politically motivated. To me... that makes the investigation completely worthless and simply a whitewash

[MJY1288]

BTW, You are quite correct.... Cal Thomas did nail this one :-)

[ChicagoRighty]

Great post.

[Octar]

I could tell CBS how they could easily repair their news division and even put their network on the road to dominance in the realm of TV news.

I could, but I won't.

[Racehorse]

I agree with Thomas, and others.  From the same story:

In Section X (Page 211) and headlined "Whether There Was A Political Agenda Driving The September 8 Segment," the report says this is "one of the most subjective, and most difficult (questions), that the Panel has sought to answer. The political agenda question was posed by the Panel directly to Dan Rather and his producer, Mary Mapes, who appear to have drawn the greatest attention in terms of possible agendas. Both strongly denied that they brought any political bias to the Segment."

I guess that settles it, then. Richard Nixon said he was not a crook, but that didn't stop Rather and CBS News from attempting to prove he was. How serious can one take a report that relies strictly on the testimony of the chief "suspects" that they had no political agenda?

But, I also believe we expected too much from Thornburgh and Boccardi.  They did not work for us, not for any part of the government, especially not for the courts.  How much further could they have gone in challenging Mapes and crew?

I'm just not so sure any inquiry short of that done by an interested prosecuting attorney would be free enough, or have access enough, or power enough, to peel back the CBS hide to where the bias gleams bright enough for even for them to see what everyone else sees so clearly.  Who would have standing to do the work?

[conshack]

This should further decrease their viewership which is virtually in the tank already. It sure doesn't seem as though they care one way or the other though.

[FreeKeys]

CBS won't say if it will act on those recommendations, because CBS sees no bias, hears no bias and speaks no bias.

"Look Bernie, of course there's a liberal bias in the news.  All the networks tilt left." -- CBS News President ANDREW HEYWARD, to six-time Emmy award winner Bernard Goldberg, quoted HERE.

[kylaka]

"myopic zeal" = Screw Bush... make the documents fit the story they have a burning desire to tell. Right or wrong never figured into the equation.

[OldFriend]

If Thornburgh and Boccardi were expected to do a thorough job they would NOT have been hired in the first place.

[lmr]

Also, the lack of an apology to the affected party: President George Walker Bush.

[MJY1288]

President Bush doesn't need an apology, he needs to be treated fairly

[narby]

Other mainstream media, including USA Today, The New York Times and the Associated Press, were pursing the same story in what was clearly a competitive race to be first."

Like they were in a race to find evidence of the treasonous actions of John Kerry, as told by the Swifties. Right.

They couldn't even bring themselves to broadcast the video of Kerry burning the vietnamese village. I have yet to see that video, despite the fact that it is apparently included in a PBS documentary on the Vietnam war.

Don't tell me that if George Bush had burned a village they wouldn't lead every story with that video.

[Waco]

CBS's main reason for existance is propaganda, political, leftist. "The news thingy is just a cover." Betcha that comes closest to their view of themselves.

[rcocean]

I'm glad others think Cal nailed this one.

Frankly, CT always strikes me as a pompous bore.

His commentary always has a mechanical, paint by the numbers approach to it.