CBS Statement On Bush Memos

CBS News ^ | 9/20/2004 | CBS News

[rwilliam]

(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.

[kesg]

Wow.

[Paradox]

just heard that hte Cleland angle has no legs.....

Ya know, this might be a funny joke in private amongst close friends, where no one else can hear you, but even them, to some of us, this type of joke is classless. ESPECIALLY on a public forum.

Having said that, I do think Cleland is mentally unstable.

[PosterQue]

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.

I nominate Buckhead, TankerKC and Howlin!
The pajama truth squad will set you free, C^BS!

[Zebra]

So the one unimpeachable source CBS swore backed the story is a fraud, as CBS now claims. Taking CBS at its word (very hard these days; Burkett is probably just the fall guy in a bigger picture), how can a "trusted" news organization ignore such obvious flaws in its source (Burkett has an anti-Bush history that a seventh grader researching a term paper could find in an hour), overlook even more apparent flaws in the proffered documents, pooh-pooh stated qualms about the reliabilty and lack of provenance of the memos, and ignore double-checking other sources to stress test the story (the secretary, the Killian family, Staudt, etc.)?

The answer is that Dan Rather and Mary Mapes are complicit, incompetent or otherwise unfit for the responsiblity that comes with managing a major news division. (By the way, what do you think Mapes was doing while she was working on this story for five years? Talking incessantly to ONE person?)

CBS has embarrassed itself for the last time with this "release." Even the New York Times had the sense to terminate those associated with the Jayson Blair fiasco. I cannot imagine many viewers or affilaites remaining with CBS after this.

I earlier posted that the Rathergate episode would become a case study for journalism schools about the dangers of reposing too much autonomy and lack of accountability in a single person. That case study will now be expanded to business schools to address the economic impact of failed brand crisis management. Successful management will be identified (Tylenol--immediate acknowledgement and recall; NYT firing all associated with Blair and installing public integrity ombudsman) and contrasted with massive failures that led to severe devaluation of brands (CBS News/60 Minutes)

Viacom shareholders should be outraged.

[conservativecorner]

GREAT JUDGMENT THERE, GUYS [09/20 01:25 PM]

Much more to come in a few moments, but note this from the AP:

CBS said Burkett acknowledged he provided the documents and said he deliberately misled a CBS producer, giving her a false account of their origin to protect a promise of confidentiality to a source.
The Associated Press could not immediately reach Burkett for comment.

[evad]

AOL POLL

How has the Bush memo controversy changed your view of CBS News?

For the negative 68%
It hasn't changed it 29%
For the positive 3%

Do you trust the news media in general?

No 79%
Yes 21%
Total Votes: 31,456

For the record my answers were "It hasn't changed" and NO

[xzins]

I like C^BS

:>)

[Max7]

These people cannot utter the words, "Sorry, it was a pack of lies." You know, the CBS people have been looking, looking, looking for FIVE LONG YEARS for something to use against the President. FIVE YEARS! And all they can come up with and are willing to go to the mat for is a bunch of forgeries. That, in itself, is amazing. This was strictly an attempt to use any means whatsoever to ruin the President. It never had anything to do with "truth". That's such a crock.

Dan Rather is sooooo full of s*%t. Arrogant. Disingenuous. LYING. PARTISAN (what, no agenda, you say?), YESTERDAY'S NEWS. IT'S OVER, DAN. YOU'RE A DINOSAUR, and a lying one at that. You can't even be honest about the fact that your OWN DAUGHTER works for the Democrats - but YOU'RE NOT PARTISAN ?????? What planet do you think everybody else is on besides yourself???

Sorry, fellow FReepers. This whole statement by Rather "We we misled" (misled????) and the "error" was made in "good faith." Good faith?? They stonewalled in "good faith"??? He couldn't see any difference in the documents himself? He never saw them? He can't a difference between superscipt and non-superscipt? Golly, these CBS'ers think we are ALL SO STUPID. Just like sheep. And who, after all, IS Dan Rather? He has bad breath in the morning when he gets up just like everybody else. (TMI)

WHO IS HE?

NOBODY SPECIAL.

[evad]

CBS seems curiously uninterested in just who gave those documents to Burkett. Because they KNOW who is behind this and it would reflect badly on Kerry/DNC, imo.

Your opinion has a 99.9% chance of being CORRECT.

[Praxeologue]

Rather said he had an "unimpeachable source". This could not possibly be Birkett. It could have been Cleland. Birkett says he gave the documents to Cleland. CBS made a point out of showing the General documents with "Kinko's Abilene" in the header. This was no accidental disclosure. Birkett did fax them from Abilene, but only as a cover for what really happened.

Birkett gave the documents to Cleland. I surmise that this unimpeachable source then gave them to CBS.

It is significant that CBS does not reveal its source but Birkett contemporaneously confesses to actions that could draw an 18-year prison term. I surmise that Birkett was not the source but CBS wants us to think so by showing the Abilene header and getting Birkett to confess to an ax murder.

The next step may be to find out from Birkett WHEN and HOW he gave the documents to Cleland. Birkett can provide useful fragments of the truth without compromising his subornation payment from Soros/DNC.

[crazycat]

"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."

This is a commedy show. It looks like Blather has done an interview with nutter Burkett, to try and justify the original 60' mins and his recent stone wall.

Now this is the best he can come up with.

GW and his team must be thanking God every time they can stop laughing.

[Nevermore]

Since Burkett's admitted fraud and deceit, and this has obviously damaged C-BS's credibility (with lemings who believed them in the first place), any chance C-BS will sue Burkett to get him to reveal that source . . . before hell freezes over?

[Petronski]

The Rather/CBS statements ensured that this story would dominate today's news cycle. But now we have this interview of the raving nutter tonight, meaning tomorrow's newscycle will focus on this story as well. The Kerry people just can't get traction.

[rwilliam]

Anyone know why this was removed from "Breaking News"? Could it be added to "Front Page News" at least? Seems like the official release from CBS is news.

[malia]

"Bill Burkett - Dan Rather - Bush Family"

We are seeing what hate can do to a person and groups!

I don't care about Burkett, he was used and now is ruined.

This exposes Rather, biased MSM, democrats all in one story.

Did Rather report on what the SwiftVets are saying?
Did Rather report on Clinton, his rapes, his lying, his affair with a girl just older than his daughter?
Has Rather reported on Oil for Food scandal?
Did Rather report how Clinton ignored terrorist warning?

If those had been republican stories Rather would have reported!!!

[TankerKC]

I'm not buying the "mistake" defense.

[TankerKC]

Burkett will be linked to Kerry within 10 days.

Do you hope that, or know that?

[okiegop]

I hate to repeat my earlier post, but......

Do we know if anyone in the MSM has tried to contact Max Cleland to get a statement regarding his involvement? I haven't heard - does anyone know??????

[okiegop]

We need to Freep any and all contacts for Max Cleland - what did he know and when did he know it?

We know CBS will never admit where they got the documents.

[okiegop]

Joseph Allbaugh is on Fox News right now saying CBS owes the President an apology and also that someone needs to suffer the consequences for this partisan attack.