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Media Bias: Veteran reporter, author and commentator Bernard Goldberg reports that when CBS News did its fake National Guard story on George W. Bush avoiding service in Vietnam, it knew it was a lie.It's a liberal urban legend that Bush used the influence of his father and his father's friends to land a cushy position in the Texas National Guard to avoid service in Vietnam. The Democrats would run John Kerry as a hero in the war, and CBS News was all too eager to help with Mary Mapes producing a "60 Minutes II" segment in September 2004 charging exactly...

This story by Bernard Goldberg certainly takes me back to the early days of my blogging career. Shortly after the 2004 Republican convention, Mary Mapes produced a segment for 60 Minutes II that alleged that George W. Bush had manipulated his enlistment in the Texas Air National Guard to avoid serving in combat in Vietnam. The documents used by CBS, Mapes, and Dan Rather turned out to be clumsy hoaxes, which the blogosphere exposed through careful review of their substance and their form (the latter of which I played a small part in refuting, with my expertise in printing and...

Bernard Goldberg is getting a good bit of attention for something he said on O'Reilly tonight -- that documents show the CBS investigation in 2004 revealed that George Bush volunteered to fly combat missions in Vietnam. The following is from his website, Bernard Goldberg.com (via Newsbusters):

On Tuesday, FNC's The O'Reilly Factor hosted FNC analyst Bernard Goldberg as the former CBS News correspondent highlighted a story recently posted on his Web site, BernardGoldberg.com, in which he complains of how little mainstream media attention was given to the fact that former President George W. Bush had volunteered to go to Vietnam as part of his service in the Texas Air National Guard, but that he was turned down because other pilots were more experienced, and that CBS News producer Mary Mapes, even though she knew this part of the story before the report aired, did not include...

In 2007, Rather filed his $70 million lawsuit against his old company saying he wasn’t allowed to defend his story because the top management of CBS’ parent company, Viacom, wanted to appease the Bush Administration and protect its business interests. Until now, the controversy over the Rather/Mapes story has centered almost entirely on one issue: the legitimacy of the documents – a very important issue, indeed. But it turns out that there was another very important issue, one that goes to the very heart of what the story was about – and one that has gone virtually unnoticed. This is...

Early in Saturday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Jeff Glor reported: "Tonight there are new allegations of torture by the CIA. Newsweek magazine is reporting that a secret 2004 report reveals that interrogators used mock executions to intimidate prisoners." Glor went on to talk to Newsweek reporter Mark Hosenball, who claimed: "And in the case of one detainee that we know about, somebody named Abdel-Rahman al Nashiri, who was an alleged architect of the USS Cole bombing, this report alleges that at some point CIA interrogators, whether contractors or CIA staff officers, brandished a gun in front of this guy in...

Here is video from 60 Minutes last night where 90 year-old Andy Rooney paid tribute to Don Hewitt, creator of 60 Minutes, and known as the "Father of Modern TV News." Hewitt died last week at age 86. . . . . (Watch Video)

CBS' Don Hewitt -- Fidel Castro Enabler By Humberto Fontova Forty years after his media advance-work helping install a Stalinist regime in Cuba the legendary Don Hewitt of CBS still seemed proud of his work as a Castro media auxiliary. During that interim, over 20,000 Cubans were murdered by firing squad and beaten or starved to death in forced labor camps. Another 70-80 thousand were ripped apart by sharks or drowned in the Florida straits (attempting to flee a nation that previously took in more immigrants per-capita than the U.S.) If Mr Hewitt had uttered a single word of remorse...

Journalism: After the eulogies, the fact remains that "the most trusted man in America" betrayed that trust. He helped snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Vietnam and tried hard to do the same in Iraq.President Obama on Friday praised Walter Cronkite as a journalistic icon, calling the CBS anchor the "voice of certainty in an uncertain world." More to the point, he was the father of advocacy journalism, the patron saint of media bias. He went from reporting news to recreating it in his own image. Far from the image of the patriotic war correspondent, Cronkite was a...

NEW YORK (CBS News) "60 Minutes"spokesman Kevin Tedesco confirmed 86-year-old Don Hewitt has died. Earlier this year, Hewitt was diagnosed with a small, contained tumor. Hewitt was already a veteran CBS newsman in 1968 when he created "60 Minutes," pioneering the TV newsmagazine format. He served as executive producer of the program until his retirement in 2004. Hewitt has been honored with the second annual Lifetime Achievement Emmy presented by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 1995, he was awarded the Founders Emmy by the International Council of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He's...

President Obama has been invited to eulogize Walter Cronkite, the legendary CBS News anchorman, at a memorial service in Manhattan next month, network sources said. Former President Bill Clinton has accepted an invitation to speak at the service, to be held at Lincoln Center at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 9. Also speaking at the service will be Katie Couric, anchor and managing editor of the "CBS Evening News"; Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports; and Leslie Moonves, CBS Corp.'s president and chief executive officer. Performances are scheduled by Jimmy Buffett and Mickey Hart, who was a Grateful Dead...

Here is the complete video of the Michael Vick interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes which aired tonight. The video contains the entire 60 Minutes program for August 16, 2009. But the Vick interview is up first in it's entirety following the opening introduction to the program. Vick talks about how he ever got into dog-fighting, how he feels about it now, and where he goes from here. . . . (Watch Complete Video)

DAN Rather has some nerve. Although he helped force Walter Cronkite out of the CBS anchor chair in 1981, and then kept the popular newsman off the air to avoid unfavorable comparisons, he had the chutzpah to attend Cronkite's funeral. And Rather, who's suing CBS for fraud and defamation, is unafraid to show his face in social circles.

So many Americans have so much to say about President Barack Obama's health care plan. You've seen it play out on television -- meeting's from across the country filled with yelling and finger-pointing at politicians. And Wednesday night one local congressman facing a crowd of protestors tried to keep CBS 2 HD cameras out. The forum was one viewers almost didn't see, after Congressman Anthony Weiner's staffers said the meeting was not open to our cameras. But everyone we spoke to felt comfortable with cameras. "I don't have any issues," said Chris Erickson, IBEW business manager, and the host of...

Here is video of Bill O'Reilly tonight talking about the absolute dominance of Fox News over its three cable competitors - CNN, MSNBC, CNN Headline News. The numbers from last week were amazing for Fox News, and for The O'Reilly Factor in particular. In the 8 pm edt time slot, O'Reilly beat CNN by 380%, MSNBC by 247%, and Headline News by 299%. The O'Reilly Factor now has a larger audience than the CBS Evening News, 5.4 million to 5.368 million viewers. . . . . . (Watch Video)

"60 Minutes" just announced that Michael Vick will sit down for his first interview since admitting to dogfighting and serving time in prison for the crime. The interview is not being done by one of the "60 Minutes" regulars, but rather by CBS Sports NFL TODAY anchor James Brown. The segment will also include interviews with Wayne Pacelle, head of the Humane Society of the U.S., and Tony Dungy, the former NFL coach who will be a special adviser to Vick. The former Atlanta Falcon's quarterback was released from federal custody last month and was given a conditional reinstatement to...

Did anyone else see the hit piece on CBS Evening News against conservative websites? According to the report, we are responsible for the turnout at Reps meetings which ask about Obamacare. They said we are instigating the people that show up at these meetings. Overall, it was a major negative story.

Something truly astonishing appeared in a Washington Post column on July 25, 2009 (click here to view). It was written by Frank Mankiewicz, former press secretary to Senator Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) and the man who is perhaps most widely remembered for announcing RFK's death in June 1968. Mankiewicz was also the political director of Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern's losing 1972 campaign. The column contained a two-fold revelation about the just-deceased Walter Cronkite, the longtime CBS News anchorman. Here are the disclosures, in Mankiewicz' own words:

When it mattered, ‘the most trusted man in America’ actually wasn’t that trustworthyOn the face of it—and on the face of them—Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite would not appear to have much in common. Cronkite was (all together now) “the most trusted man in America”; Jackson was the least trusted child-man in America, at least to any parents whose ambitions for their kid extend beyond a $30-million out-of-court settlement. But, for those members of the Jackstream Media hoping to eke out one more week of prostrations and ululations for their Gloved One, Cronkite’s death served as a kind of intervention....

Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather called on President Barack Obama to form a White House commission to help save the press Tuesday night in an impassioned speech at the Aspen Institute. “I personally encourage the president to establish a White House commission on public media,” the legendary newsman said. Such a commission on media reform, Rather said, ought to make recommendations on saving journalism jobs and creating new business models to keep news organizations alive. At stake, he argued, is the very survival of American democracy.