Posted on 10/05/2004 1:47:53 PM PDT by NewMediaFan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An external review of how CBS News came to use disputed documents in a report on President Bush (news - web sites)'s military record will probably not be concluded until after the November election so as not to interfere with the presidential race, a top executive said on Tuesday.
Les Moonves, the co-president of CBS parent company Viacom, told an analyst meeting that the review of the CBS "60 Minutes II" report being done by former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and retired Associated Press chief Louis Boccardi had no timetable for completion. But he said he did not want it to interfere with the Nov. 2 election.
"Obviously, it should be done probably after the election is over so that it doesn't affect what's going on," he told a Goldman Sachs media conference in New York.
A CBS spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the statement. But she pointed out that when CBS News President Andrew Heyward named Boccardi and Thornburgh to conduct the investigation of the Sept. 8 report, he said he hoped it would be completed in weeks rather than months.
The CBS report alleged that Bush had received special treatment while serving in he Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War.
The report also produced documents purportedly written by Bush's Guard commander complaining that he was pressured to "sugar coat" Bush's record -- but the man who gave the documents to CBS later admitted that he lied about its origins and serious questions have been raised over their authenticity.
(Excerpt) Read more at story.news.yahoo.com ...
Nobody over there at good ol' CBS want anything to come out that sinks the Kerry campaign. What's more, the guilty get more time to cover their tracks. Incompetence on CBS's part was never the reason for these shananigans ...apart from the incompetence it takes to get caught. Don't expect CBS to police itself. They're rotten.
If it was going to be detrimental to the President, the result would be out the weekend before the election. But because we know that it will go against the Dems and the liberal media, the results won't be out until after the election.
More letters, emails and phone calls to the affiliates are needed.
In a way, that's what's already happening to their ratings.
I guess it's up to the blogosphere to get to the bottom of this if we're going to keep this story alive until election day.
How convenient.
Bush wins by a hair, then it comes out that the Kerry Kamp was all over the doc thing.
...And let's CBS's (Rather-butt-boy)Bob Schieffer STILL moderate in the debate with all the look of "fair and balanced".....
bump
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