Lots and lots of contradictory stories coming out about what CBS did/didn't do to authenticate these docs. On early threads, CBS was saying they had "experts" validating these docs. Then on another later thread, it was reported that a CBS spokeswoman corrected that to "witnesses." Witnesses to what? Did these "witnesses" stand over the reportedly non-typist Killian while he typed these particular memos?
I'm expecting CBS to tell lots more lies in their effort to cover up their initial lies about these docs.
It won't matter. I've already sent out a bunch of faxes to CBS sponsors, letting them know that I won't buy their products if they advertise them on CBS. I'll be sending out more tomorrow. Anybody who pays money to CBS loses my patronage.
My guess is CBS has either an in-house document verifier or oen they use regularly. He probably serves as a rubber stamp, doesn't actually look very closely. The attitude at CBS would be, "We need you to issue a favorable opinion of the documents' authenticity so we can run the story." If the expert is a team player, he'd feel pressured to verify the documents.
No matter what else it is, journalism is a business first, and they felt they could make advertising money if they received verification of the documents.