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Posted on 09/20/2004 10:57:26 AM PDT by GLDNGUN
Andrew Heyward Internal E-Mail to CBS News Employees Mon Sep 20 2004 13:25:11 ET
Dear CBS News Colleagues,
Many of you have expressed understandable concern about the disputed documents used in the 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY report on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
Obviously, 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY had full confidence in the original report or it would not have aired. However, in the wake of serious and disturbing questions that came up after the broadcast, CBS News has done extensive additional reporting in an effort to confirm the documentsÕ authenticity. That included interviews with Marian Carr Knox, secretary to the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, the officer named as the author of the documents; an interview with Bill Burkett, the former Guard officer who provided the memos to 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY; and a further review of the forensic evidence on both sides of the debate.
Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic standard to justify using them in the report. We should not have used them. That was a mistake, which we deeply regret.
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.
Nothing is more important to us than our credibility and keeping faith with the millions of people who count on us for fair, accurate, reliable, and independent reporting. I know all of you work tirelessly to be worthy of that trust. I hope today's public statements about the documents are an important first step in restoring YOUR confidence in the standards and systems we have in place to ensure that we live up to our obligations to our viewers, listeners, and readers -- and to one another.
Thanks Andrew
SECONDLY, obviously there is a great deal of stress at CBS and distress with employees. If you read between the lines, you will see that Andrew is trying to soothe some very upset people. The give-aways are "Many of you have expressed understandable concern..." and "an important first step in restoring YOUR confidence..." After all, if the employees confidence in CBS NEWS was strong, it wouldn't need to be "restored".
But this ain't gonna cut it.
Hey, CBS NEWS, if you really want to do some investigative reporting, tell us where the docs came from ORIGINALLY. Burkett is nothing but a patsy. WHO gave the docs to him??? HMMM???
From Powerline:
Staying Behind the Curve
As expected, Dan Rather has released a statement on the forged documents. This apparently follows his belated interview with Bill Burkett in Texas over the weekend. Here is the key language:
Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.
But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.
So Rather and 60 Minutes stay resolutely behind the curve. The significant part of the statement--"I no longer have...confidence in these documents"--could and should have been said on September 9. They still can't bring themselves to admit what everyone knows, that the documents are fakes.
And Rather's statement studiously avoids the only question that remains open: where did CBS get the forged documents? Specifically, did they come from the Kerry campaign? As we've noted, an email from Bill Burkett indicates that he gave materials to Max Cleland for use in the campaign. Those materials are presumably the forged documents. So Rather can't go much longer without answering the obvious question: did you get the forgeries from Max Cleland?
Already posted a couple of posts down. Sorry!
LMAO! Riiiiight! If thats not corporatespeak BS, I don't know what is.
"The names of the people conducting the review..."
Hmmm, oughta be good.
Dan Rather, Michael Moore, Saddam Hussein...
As pointed out, this CBS memo DOES name the source - Burkett.
They way I see it, the Killian family should be suing CBS for defamation of Lt. Col. Killian. It wouldn't break my heart to see them rake CBS real good.
That's what this statement says. But read Dan Rather's statement from earlier today. The two are not telling the same story about who actually sent the documents to CBS. Burkett may the ultimate source of the documents themselves, but the Rather statement suggests that a second person is involved who may have actually supplied the documents to CBS. Fox News is reporting that the second person may be Max Cleland.
Yep. The documents are a fake, there's no reason to keep the distributor's identity a secret. Unless, of course, you want to hide connections to the Kerry campaign and prevent any political fallout.
CBS:
NA NA NA NA,
NA NA NA NA,
SAY HEY AY
"GOODBYE!"
Why didn't they talk to General Staudt before they put 35 year old words in his mouth?
What a bunch of squirming liars, still trying to get out of the mess they manufactured.
Keep digging, CBS.
If you believe that, you'll also believe that O.J. is working diligently to find the "real killers".
Worse than that, the Hewitt was furious about being undermined on the 60 Minutes II decision. He said that it would eventually wreck the brand.
He was right. The original 60 Minutes tribe has been saying, "Remember, Dan and those guys aren't us." That's already been documented.
What hasn't been has to be the original 60 Minutes tribe probably going ballistic over all of this. All of the pressure we can exert won't be like the pressure that those guys are putting on Heywood right now.
That about sums it up, I'd say. Nice catch.
CBS is attempting to contain this at Burkett. It is imperative that they not succeed. The chain of custody of the forged documents and the path they took to air are the real scandals.
Jason Blair
So, someone needs to go after Burkett with criminal charges. Then maybe we will find out the truth.
Disabled or not, if this proves true, then Cleland is nothing but a bitter, hateful hack.
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