Posted on 09/25/2004 8:48:15 AM PDT by GeneD
Filed at 11:17 a.m. ET
NEW YORK (AP) -- CBS News has shelved a ``60 Minutes'' report on the rationale for war in Iraq because it would be ``inappropriate'' to air it so close to the presidential election, the network said on Saturday.
The report on weapons of mass destruction was set to air on Sept. 8 but was put off in favor of a story on President Bush's National Guard service. The Guard story was discredited because it relied on documents impugning Bush's service that were apparently fake.
CBS News spokeswoman Kelli Edwards would not elaborate on why the timing of the Iraq report was considered inappropriate.
The report, with Ed Bradley as the correspondent, has long been in the works. Originally scheduled for June, it was first put off because of new developments, Edwards said.
CBS said no other reports on the presidential election have been affected.
The network last week appointed former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and retired Associated Press chief executive Louis Boccardi to investigate what went wrong with the National Guard report and recommend changes.
The controversy has put CBS News officials squarely on the fire line, particularly anchor Dan Rather, who narrated the National Guard report.
Meanwhile, the network announced that Rather would anchor the network's coverage of all three presidential debates, starting Sept. 30.
Must read article by John Podhoretz:
I would also wager that the people pushing the show were trying to make a point that no pajama clad right wing republicans were going to interfere with the CBS News political agenda to kick Bush out of office.
I suspect that over the next month or so we will see lots and lots of very interesting civil war over at CBS News. It is hard on folks when culture changes and their low ratings are going to force a real change in culture and people.
Does that mean Rather will explain to the sheep what Bush REALLY said?
BOY THESE NETWORKS HAVE JUST GOT TO HATE THE INTERNET & BLOGGERS TO DEATH...LAUGH...i BET EVERY STORY THEY DO FROM NOW ON, THEY ARE GOING TO WONDER..
Ratheresque, synonym for Clintonesque
*sigh*
Maybe they had to give him this in exchange for his retiring quietly after the elections. One hopes, anyway.
I read a Newsweek article about it (but can't find it again!) and it was going to be very crooked.
Of course Newsweek did not say that. They had an approving tone about the CBS planned Bush attack and a wistful note that now it would be postponed. After all, how can CBS do a show tsk tsking over the WH being "fooled" with forged documents? BWAHAHAHAHAHA
(Of course the WH did not rely or get fooled by forged documents, but CBS was going to say so)
It most certainly will not.
excerpt:
Dan Rather's eternal return ends here with the collapse of his reputation and the collapse of the 20th-century American news industry in which he was one of the last grand potentates.
I do what I can for the Cause, but I need to see Dan Rather call it for GWB. Again.
They found the stockpiles of WMD.
I'd like to agree, but...
My guess is that is a calculated risk.
1.) they're hoping that people will tune in just to see and hear Dan let his biases show,
and
2.) Dan will be on his best behavior to "redeem" himself in the eyes of the viewing audience.
That's not to mention that he has to show fellow travellers that he didn't kill off the network news industry ahead of
time, putting everybody out of cushy jobs.
"I say we turn up the heat on the missing Kerry military records."
I agree, I think it's a Very Big Deal!
of the staff that worked on the piece, and said, "Okay, how bad did you feminazi chicks lie, distort, take out of context,
etc, so anybody with half a brain and a computer can drive an Abrams tank through blindfolded, and not even
disturb one minute shred of an indisputable fact, but will hit every lie, distortion, wish, improper nuance, etc???"
Check this out for size....
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=3873
Very good: "Ratheresque, synonym for Clintonesque"!
There are a lot of lack of character faults that are interchangeable with Rather and Clinton.
THAT story?
Note to CBS's affiliates: If so, you guys dodged a bullet there...
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