Panel Finds CBS News Rushed Report on Bush's Guard Record

[Carolab]

Panel Finds CBS News Rushed Report on Bush's Guard Record
By JACQUES STEINBERG
and BILL CARTER

Published: January 10, 2005


An independent panel convened by CBS to investigate a discredited broadcast about President Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service has concluded that the network's news division rushed the report onto the air in September in a frenetic dash to beat its competitors. The report also says the network failed to seriously consider contradictory information raised not only before the segment was aired but for nearly two weeks afterward.

After releasing a 224-page report submitted to him by the independent panel, Leslie Moonves, co-president and co-chief operating officer of Viacom, the network's parent company, announced today that he had fired Mary Mapes, the longtime CBS producer who had prepared the segment.

Mr. Moonves also announced that he was demanding the resignations of three CBS News executives who had overseen the segment. They are Betsy West, a senior vice president and a top deputy to Andrew Heyward, president of CBS News; Josh Howard, who had become executive producer of the Wednesday edition of "60 Minutes" only weeks before it broadcast the disputed segment; and Mary Murphy, his deputy.

In their report, the independent panelists presented evidence they contend shows that Ms. Mapes misled - or at the least was not forthcoming with - her superiors about the origin of the documents or of the results of efforts to verify them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/10/business/media/10cnd-cbs.html

I find it incredibly ironic that this piece pushed out the airing of the more important documentary on "60 Minutes" about the administration's LIES concerning the bogus yellowcake uranium from Niger. It was WIDELY known that this story was false when this was inserted in the SOTU address and Bush KNEW it was false when he read it. I only hope that Ms. Mapes and Mr. Rather will continue to try to bring down this false president and his corrupt administration as Mr. Rather continues on as a correspondent for "60 Minutes" since stepping down as anchorman for CBS Evening News. In my opinion, he has the chance to contribute much more in this capacity than he ever did as anchor.

[leesa]

1. Of course we will continue to pretend that the content wasn't true.

Bush was AWOL.