The CBS Bogus-Memo Affair: Could It Have Been Haste, Carelessness, and Not Ideology?

The Richmond [VA] Richmond Times-Dispatch ^ | January 27, 2005 | Ross Mackenzie

[quidnunc]

One reads the report on CBS and the bogus memos — all 224 pages of it, supported by about 500 pages of exhibits — with a gathering sense of dismay.

It is not a snow job. CBS promised findings "in weeks, not months" about allegations it had aired bogus memos suggesting disobedience by George Bush in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972-73. Four months and half-a-million dollars later we have a report by two eminences (a former Attorney General and a former head of the Associated Press) that amounts to the devastation of Dan Rather and CBS.

The report finds — let's see:

• Abundant carelessness.

• "Egregious shortcomings" (former AP president and CEO Lou Boccardi's words) in the realm of broadly accepted journalistic standards. ("Our report does not give CBS a passing grade.")

• A determination by CBS to rush the memos onto the air.

• "Myopic zeal."

• "Solid sources" (Rather's words) that were in truth a congeries of Democratic hangers-on, hustlers, and hacks.

• Haste.

Devastating stuff.

So, as one reads along, where does the dismay enter and gather steam?

-snip-

[26lemoncharlie]

The CBS Bogus-Memo Affair: Could It Have Been Haste, Carelessness, and Not Ideology? >>>>>> NO !

[JPJones]

Never was there worse "reporting" of the news than on CBS in the weeks/months leading upto the election. Their license to broadcast needs to be suspended.

[Waco]

Rather is a crimminal, guilty as hell. It's as if he sticks a gun in the viewers face and says, "Here swallow this, or else!"

[EatyourVeggies]

It was carelessness driven by ideology.

[Keith in Iowa]

Not just no, but a resounding 'Hell no!'.

[Miss Conduct]

carelessness, not ideology. sure. have a cookie. yeah right!

you know what? we should demand they re-instate the fairness doctrine for television so that we would at least get some decent news out of the liberal media.

p.s. "quidnunc" is a great name!

[Lancey Howard]

Great column from Ross. He articulates many people's frustrations about the whitewash very well.

Why were Rather and Ms. Mapes and CBS careless and hasty? Why did they rush onto the air with forged memos? They believed the memos' content even in the face of their obvious fraudulence. They were seeking to force the facts into their mold -- into their interpretation of reality. That is the essence of ideology. And ideology -- leftist ideology -- lies at the heart of the CBS bogus-memo affair.

[FreeKeys]

See "How SeeBS's Big Story Fell Apart"

[26lemoncharlie]

They are a mouthpiece for trhe National Socialist Democratic Party !! They CBS, NBC, and ABC should be made to register as a foreign lobbyist!

[Ticonderoga34]

The reason that Rather and Mapes rushed the story with forged memos is because they wanted to coordinate the story with the Kerry campaign's "Fortunate Son" ads that depicted President Bush as a draft dodger. Mapes even called Kerry campaign officials just before the CBS story went on the air. It seems pretty obvious to me what was going on.

[Space Wrangler]

The CBS Bogus-Memo Affair: Could It Have Been Haste, Carelessness, and Not Ideology?

Ha Ha. That's funny. If it were anything less than an idealogical attempt to defraud the populace, they'd turn over all the info in regards to where the memo's came from (which we all know to be that nutjob, Burkett), they'd can Dan Rather's ass in a very public way (can't do any harm to a fellow traveler who's held in such high regard--let the peons take the fall), and we'd have a REAL explanation as to how a supposedly professional news network went on air with documents that were so obviously fake that they were almost thoroughly debunked by a freeper by the time the show that aired them ended. Rather was either totally complicit, or an idiot, take your pick (I know, tough choice). The question now is where did the memo's come from? CBS sure soesn't want to know. Burkett's an idiot, and the fact that he was so heavily relied on for these 'memo's' indicates to me that these documents were conceived on a computer belonging either to the Kerry campaign, or the DNC, and Burkett was used to 'clean' the source. He was plausible deniability, and nothing more.

[Lancey Howard]

Excellent point.
That was another area which was glaringly overlooked by The Panel in its report/whitewash.

[sevry]

Their license to broadcast needs to be suspended.

That's not a bad point. But would FCC bureaucrats act as they ought for the public good? I don't mean to sound cynical. But bureaucrats talk of the public good, and often act against it.

CBS not only aired a slanderous report based on clearly fabricated evidence, but more to the point attempted to cover it up for a week and a half, and still attempts to do so in this 'final report'.

Can a network under license just broadcast - ANYTHING? Is that the rule? Can it just make up any lie and broadcast it, whether in the effort to swing a Presidential election, or in the effort to somehow excuse itself from blame?

Can a network just broadcast - ANYTHING? without having to worry that its license will be pulled?

Is this the new FCC rule, I wonder? Broadcast all the slanders you like, forge all the documents you may, and attempt to mislead the nation, and bit by bit do great harm to the public trust the FCC might think they are bound, in some manner, to preserve.

[bray]

Maybe Enron should have examined themselves too??? Bring in the FBI.

Pray for W and Our Troops

[smonk]

even if it was haste and/or carelessness, it was haste and carelessness that was ideologically motivated in the first place.

so, ultimately, it doesn't matter.

[Lancey Howard]

I assure you, this report will be a yoke around CBS's neck until they finally go out of business.

First, the "investigators" did not have the spine to do their job with regard to the forged memos. They needed to determine and state clearly that there could be no reasonable doubt that the memos were forged. Instead, they weaseled out:

"Although the panel said it couldn't prove conclusively the documents were forged, it said CBS News failed to authenticate them...."

That just doesn't cut it. It sounds like: "Gee, the memos could POSSIBLY be real...."

Second, even though CBS was caught red-handed trying to fix a Presidential election by using forged military memos to support a one-sided, Bush-bashing, hit-piece interview with a known Kerry fundraiser and political operative, CBS and "The Panel" maintain that there was no political agenda behind CBS's attempt to fix the election for Kerry. Say WHAT? That conclusion is incompetent and zany on its face.

Again, 'The Panel' failed miserably to investigate the liberal activist political histories of Rather and Mapes (among others) and state clearly what is obvious to nearly everybody - - that yes, "political bias" certainly WAS at the root of CBS's airing of the segment. But 'The Panel' not only didn't have the spine to say it, they actually concluded the opposite. That is utterly inexcusable.

My theory is that CBS and 'The Panel' needed to orchestrate the report/whitewash in just the right way so that they wouldn't give any ammo to the Justice Department and other law enforcement authorities. I'm sure there was a lot of hand-wringing, numerous conference calls, and maybe even some "gratuitities" exchanging hands during the "months, not weeks," that it took to finally produce the piece of rubbish.

[hosepipe]

Well said...

[benjaminjjones]

I think it would be cool, as a final twist to the blade that Buckhead and TankerKC first planted, to have a commemorative plaque delivered to Dan Rather on the day of his final broadcast.

Nothing overtly rude, more along the lines of a left-handed compliment.

Something like (comments and improvements welcome):

On Behalf of the
Pajama Clad Seekers of Truth
We are Proud to Present this Award
to Dan Rather and CBS News

for Bringing the Devotion of
American Pajama Patriots
to the Forefront of
the Main Stream Media
and the American Public

Image "borrowed" from 0cents.com, great provider of FR apparel (sorry, couldn't get a hotlink to work properly).

Maybe some FR HTML guru can figure out how to wrap the text around the badge.

I'm pledging $25.00 (the cost of a badge).

[CyberAnt]

You are exactly correct!!