STATEMENT OF MARY MAPES

The Wall Street Journal ^ | 1/10/05 | MARY MAPES

[Brilliant]

I am terribly disappointed in the conclusions of the report and its effects on the four of us who will no longer work at CBS News....

I am shocked by the vitriolic scape-goating in Les Moonves’s statement. I am very concerned that his actions are motivated by corporate and political considerations -- ratings rather than journalism. Mr. Moonves’s response to the review panel’s report and the panel’s assessment of the evidence it developed in its investigation combine not only to condemn me, but to put all investigative reporting in the CBS tradition at risk.

Much has been made about the fact that these documents are photocopies and therefore cannot be trusted, but decades of investigative reporting have relied on just such copies... In vetting these documents, we did not have ink to analyze, original signatures to compare, or paper to date. We did have context and corroboration and believed, as many journalists have before and after our story, that authenticity is not limited to original documents. Photocopies are often a basis for verified stories.

Before the Bush/Guard story aired, the newly found documents that supported it were thoroughly examined and corroborated. The contents of the new documents mesh perfectly, in large ways and small, with all previously known records. The new documents also were corroborated by retired Gen. Bobby Hodges, the late Col. Killian’s commander, who said that the 2 documents showed Col. Killian’s true sentiments... After the broadcast, Marian Carr Knox provided the same corroboration in her televised interview. Yet, despite the panel’s recognition of the heretofore unchalleneged integrity of my work in the past, the panel was quick to condemn me here on the basis of statements of people who told my associates and me very different versions than what they told the panel...

[OXENinFLA]

his actions are motivated by corporate and political considerations -- ratings rather than journalism

And this is MAPES saying this?!?

HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

But I guess she wasn't looking for ratings when she ran that hit piece, she was trying to make sure her man Kerry won the Presidential election.

[mgc1122]

[Drango]

It is noteworthy the panel did not conclude that these documents are false.

The new liberal talking point....

[Mike Bates]

. . . I can only emphasize my own honesty and integrity. . .

Might as well. No one else will.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[angkor]

That Mapes won't admit she was rolled with fake documents prove her firing was just.

[elhombrelibre]

She brings up a bunch of red herrings about the original documents (of course there are none) and these copies, and says nothing about the fact that Free Republic's own poster, the Honorable buckhead, debunked the whole story in just a few hours. Mary Mapes, at long last, have you no sense of decency?

[nuconvert]

Denial

[Brilliant]

They did not conclude the documents were false...

Yes, and that just reinforces the perception that this was a whitewash, just as does their conclusion that the false report was not politically motivated. It also reinforces the perception of liberal bias at CBS.

These guys have done very little, if anything, to redeem their credibility with this report.

[Arkie2]

"to put all investigative reporting in the CBS tradition at risk".


What tradition would that be? Falsifying documents and deploying partisan political hit squads?

[alrea]

I believe the segment presented to the American people facts they were free to accept or reject, and that as those facts were presented, there was nothing that was false or misleading.

Maybe she was fired for wasting time?

[ProudVet77]

I posted this earlier:
(Rather's) confidence in Mapes may have led him to go with the story, despite the red flags. After all, it was Mapes who brought CBS the Abu Ghraib photos of prisoner abuse and who risked jail by refusing to turn over videotapes of Rather's interview with a man charged in the 1998 dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas.
But Mapes' father sees a political agenda behind his daughter's work. Don Mapes, 76, was a recent guest on a radio talk show hosted by John Carlson on KVI in Seattle.
He said, "I'm really ashamed of what my daughter has become. She's a typical liberal. She went into journalism with an ax to grind, and that was to promote radical feminism."
He confessed to being disappointed in his daughter's role in the controversy. He said, "When I heard about 60 Minutes, I suspected she would be the producer of the show."

[OXENinFLA]

Denial

At CBS it's not just a river in Egypt, it's the status quo...........

[The Sons of Liberty]

Once again, I would like to thank Buckhead for immediately exposing the falsehood attempted to be perpetrated by CBS.

[woofer]

his actions are motivated by corporate and political considerations -- ratings rather than journalism

And this is MAPES saying this?!?

Wanna prove your motives were pure, Mapes?

Turn over your rolodex so we can see in the Bush campaign was in there like Lockhart's number was.

[An Old Marine]

So the new logic seems to be that in the absence of definite proof that they made up a story based on faked evidence their fairy tales stands.

I can only hope that they keep this kind of crap up. By 2012 the Democratic party will consist of whatever votes they can muster in Boston and San Francisco.

[bmwcyle]

What did they know and when did they know it?

[Bryher1]

Mapes believes falsehoods are being reported about her nationwide... how delightfully ironic.

[mainepatsfan]

I still don't think that angle of the scandal has been explored enough. What was the connection between her and the Kerry campaign? Don't forget the Kerry campaign had ads based on that story ready to go right after her piece was run.

[nuconvert]

"At CBS it's not just a river in Egypt, it's the status quo..........."

Ain't that the truth

[Red Badger]

Maybe she was fired for wasting time?

She was fired because it did not work and she got caught.....

[Red Badger]

What did they know and when did they know it?

What did they know and when did they NOT know it?

[mainepatsfan]

She'll now be portraying herself as the latest victim of the vast right wing conspiracy.

[OXENinFLA]

Hugh Hewitt was pounding on this last night.

He was making some good point about the e-mails, or lack there of, cBS released.

The Whitewash Report, The Blogosphere, and the Heisenberg Principle.

[Fredgoblu]

Before the Bush/Guard story aired, the newly found documents that supported it were thoroughly examined and corroborated. The contents of the new documents mesh perfectly, in large ways and small, with all previously known records

Obviously, she read the Commission's report about as closely as she examined the "documents".

[Puppage]

It is noteworthy the panel did not conclude that these documents are false

Soooooo, you were all fired because you missed a meeting?

[KwasiOwusu]

" I can only emphasize my own honesty and integrity."

Mary Mapes wouldn't know honesty and integrity if they hit her right between the eyes.
Mary Mapes is the very antithesis of honest and integrity.
She is the world's biggest liar.

[Fredgoblu]

She's still got that good old "myopic zeal", doesn't she?!?!

[alloysteel]

Doesn't sound much like "mea culpa". That's right, shift blame. But it's a little hard to do when you have just been covered with an avalanche of doo-doo.

[Brilliant]

"The Heisenberg Principle holds that "the act of observing alters the reality being observed." To make it even more blunt: Things and people act differently when they are being observed."

Who would have figure that Hewitt follows physics????

[Mike Bates]

She is the world's biggest liar.

Well, maybe.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[mewzilla]

I've got a CBS related question. Mary Mapes is gone, Rather's leaving, but Andrew Heyward is still there. Anyone done an FEC donor list check on Heyward? I just did and I want to know if anyone knows if the Heyward giving big bucks to Dems, who's listed as being with the entertainment industry and DIC, is the same Andrew Heyward.

Just curious.

[elhombrelibre]

BOXED IN BY BIAS

http://nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/38340.htm

John Podhoretz

January 11, 2005 -- THE most astonishing passage in the bombshell 234-page report on CBS News' disgraceful fabricated memos story about George W. Bush's long-ago military service is its weakest passage.

It comes when the report's two authors (who call themselves The Panel) decide they're going to cover CBS's backside against the transparent partisan and ideological bias evident in the story they go to great lengths to discredit.

[and more…]

"What if there was a person who might have some information that could possibly change the momentum of an election but we needed to get an ASAP book deal to help get us the information?"

There it is, the phrase that pays: "information that could possibly change the momentum of an election."

Smith's e-mail proves that, more than a week before the story aired, two of its producers were openly discussing how their story could tilt the election to John Kerry.

[Red Badger]

She will not be out of work for long. The Left will succour her soon......

[bmwcyle]

They don't know enough to not shoot themselves in the foot.

[Jet Jaguar]

Bttt!

[popdonnelly]

"...but to put all investigative reporting in the CBS tradition at risk."

You mean all investigative reporting at CBS depended on fake documents from nut cases?

Like the lady said, they just don't get it.

[verity]

CBS news is a cancer that needs to be excised.

[KwasiOwusu]

OK, so its a tie.
LOL!

[vannrox]

"...his (reporting) actions are motivated by..." "...political considerations."

OK. Now the Program Director admits to a political agenda at CBS. Smoking gun anyone?

[Neever]

Still in denial. This is proof she needs to go. She's lost in Michael Moore's delusional dreamland.

I am liberal.
Hear me roar.
If there are facts,
I will ignore!

[TomGuy]

Much has been made about the fact that these documents are photocopies and therefore cannot be trusted, but decades of investigative reporting have relied on just such copies... In vetting these documents, we did not have ink to analyze, original signatures to compare, or paper to date. We did have context and corroboration and believed, as many journalists have before and after our story, that authenticity is not limited to original documents. Photocopies are often a basis for verified stories.

If this is the level of journalistic integrity that exists in most contemporary news rooms, journalism and news room personnel are in big trouble.

If Mapes expects any rational human to accept these excuses, she needs mental help. Such a rationale is beyond credulity.

They still believe the text of the lie and excuse the method in favor of the message, even though the message is a lie.

[maggief]

[mainepatsfan]

Is CNN hiring?

[OXENinFLA]

Well at least cBS did give FR credit, though they didn't mention Buckhead they did print (some of) post 47.

And botched the URL.

Page 153 of the CBS report

The attacks on the September 8 Segment began virtually immediately. One of the first came on freerepublic.com, a website:

[E]very single one of these memos to file is in a proportionally spaced font, probably Palatino or Times New Roman. In 1972 people used typewriters for this sort of thing, and typewriters used monospaced fonts. The use of proportionally spaced fonts did not come into common use for office memos until the introduction of laser printers, word processing software, and personal computers. They were not widespread until the mid to late 90’s. Before then, you needed typesetting equipment, and that wasn’t used for personal memos to file. Even the Wang systems that were dominant in the mid 80’s used monospaced fonts. I am saying these documents are forgeries, run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old.85

[popdonnelly]

"It is noteworthy the panel did not conclude that these documents are false."

The panel wasn't charged with finding the documents were false. The document analysts that Mapes hired said they had grave doubts about the authenticity of the documents. That's good enough for most people, but not good enough for Mapes.

[Brilliant]

It is very enlightening to see Mapes basically admit that she and CBS have not been checking the authenticity of documents they've been using in their reporting for the last several decades, isn't it?

[woofer]

Don't forget the Kerry campaign had ads based on that story ready to go right after her piece was run.

No kiddin'!

[Drango]

PBS will hire her in a heartbeat.

[KwasiOwusu]

"It is noteworthy the panel did not conclude that these documents are false."

They did not find them genuine either, which is the only basis upon which a journalistic report should be based.