CBS Fires Mapes

cbs radio news

[Dominick]

I count five! Rather is effectively fired....

but it has nothing to do with it.

[OldFriend]

Drudge is still looking for those hidden cameras that might catch him in some unseemly act!

[MeekOneGOP]

Full text in #61 .....

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Excerpt:

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.

The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, is stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News.

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Mary Mapes

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[mrsmith]

This will give them four spots to put former Clinton staffers in so the DNC can cut expenses! A win-win!

"Appoint a senior Standards and Practices Executive, reporting directly to the President of CBS News, who would review all investigative reporting, use of confidential sources and authentication of documents. Personnel should feel comfortable going to this person confidentially and without fear of reprisal, with questions or concerns about particular reports. "

Ah, looks like they're aware that Sidney Blumenthal has been let go by Salon.

[onyx]

I want to read the report!

[cyncooper]

Either that or she'll go whole hog and head right to al Jazeera.

[1Old Pro]

After examining the report and thinking about its implications, we believe any further action would not be appropriate."

BS, they should asked Rather for his immediate resignation.

[Space Wrangler]

“the Panel cannot conclude that a political agenda at 60 Minutes Wednesday drove either the timing of the airing of the segment or its content.”

Yeah right. The panel may not be able to conclude that, but the public certainly can read between the lines. The ONLY reason this piece was aired when it was was a political agenda. They just didn't count on it being refuted as quickly as it was. They didn't care if they had to apologize under a Kerry administration, that was the whole point. Rather and crew were on a political mission, there's no doubt about it. Journalistic integrity was tossed not to be the first to break the big story, but to turn the tide away from Bush. This was election tampering plain and simple.

[csvset]

Ah, good "company (wo)men", taking one for the team. Perhaps Dan knows of skeletons in CBS's closet and he threatened to expose those them. Then again, perhaps not, Dan's a "made" guy, bulletproof it seems.

[Fury]

Mapes was no scapegoat believe me, yes Blather should have been canned as well, but Mapes was on a witch-hunt for years to smear Bush.... she's not being scapegoated.

Next stop for Mapes:

The Nation?
MSNBC?
The New Republic?

[IamConservative]

"The panel called Mapes’ action a “clear conflict of interest that created the appearance of political bias.”

The bias lie in the fact that they aired the story at all. The media seem to conveniently forget that there is MUCH more to bias than content. Context, opportunity and story selection among them.

[OldFriend]

This report represents a clear appearance of BULLSHIP

[MeekOneGOP]

Whoops! I should have looked first. I see you already posted that.

Sorry.

[TruthWillWin]

What about Rather?

Andrew Heyward also should have been one of the first to go.

[cyncooper]

Did they even consider the other stories CBS was "working" on and planning to air during that same timeframe that demonstrate the blatant attempt to bring down President Bush using mischaracterized if not outright false documentation?????

I'll review the report, but it doesn't sound like it if they can't reach obvious conclusions here.

I am disgusted (but not surprised).

[goldstategop]

Its a whitewash. And they couldn't bring themselves to terminate their star anchor. Where's the accountability?

[unixfox]

Fire the female underling, not the male supervisor.

Looks like that ole "equal treatment" thingy has come home to roost.

[onyx]

When can we expect cBS to release the panel's report?

LOL.

[1Old Pro]

This was election tampering plain and simple.

Everyone knows this but CBS would face fines and would face immediate destructioon if this were admitted to.However, because it was true, they still face extinction....over time.

[goldstategop]

I doubt we will see the feminizts in action on this issue. After all lying on behalf of a liberal goal is a noble thing to do.