Rather, Chalk This Up For The Blogsphere
Published September 21, 2004
Bush Memo Story A 'Mistake'
CBS News and Anchorman Dan Rather have finally come clean and made a public apology . They acknowledge the authenticity of documents used in a recent "60 Minutes II" story about George W. Bush's National Guard service can't be confirmed.Rather and CBS News have both said using the documents was a mistake. CBS also said it was deliberately misled by a key source in its "60 Minutes" report questioning President Bush's National Guard service.
CBS added former Texas Guard official Bill Burkett "has acknowledged that he provided the now-disputed documents" and "admits that he deliberately misled the CBS News producer working on the report, giving her a false account of the documents' origins to protect a promise of confidentiality to the actual source."
Blog Bloke is not going to join his headline seeking peers who are demanding the public lynching of a news icon. There is no evidence Mr. Rather intentionally misled the public, and any conjecture in this regard is preposterous. For to even entertain such a notion would infer that Mr. Rather was in collusion and prepared to jeopardize an impeccable career.
I don't think so, and unless there is concrete evidence produced to the contrary I am satisfied with the apology and he has been redeemed as far as I'm concerned.
There is no denying that Dan jumped the gun and screwed up big time. A man with his experience should know better and he will always suffer the humiliation of this episode on his record. But he also did what was needed to rectify the matter.
The mark of a man (or woman) is not how many mistakes he didn't make - but rather how he handles those mistakes. Everybody messes up and his exemplary career to date demands absolution. As for CBS' handling of the matter, I'm not so sure.
Will that be the end of it? Not by a long shot. Already rumours abound the document was leaked by Kerry's bunch. Was it partisanship? Who knows.
But if there is anything we can learn from all this right here and now, it is exactly what your Momma has always told you. Don't believe everything that you read, or hear, or... chalk this one up for the blogosphere folks.
*This post also appeared at News Blog.
- Rather, Chalk This Up For The Blogsphere
- Published: September 21, 2004
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- Section: Sci/Tech
- Filed Under: Video: Television, Video: Music, Culture: Media, Sci/Tech: Internet
- Writer: Blog Bloke
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Comments on this articleComments
CBS pushed this story because Dan Rather and his producer are big-time Democrats.
You haven't seen any hard-hitting 60 Minutes episodes about Kerry's questionable war record, have you?
CBS pushed this story because Dan Rather and his producer are big-time Democrats.
You haven't seen any hard-hitting 60 Minutes episodes about Kerry's questionable war record, have you?
Sorry about the multiple comments above. Please erase. (My connection was goofy there for a minute...)
Ok RJ, I heard you!
In answer to your question... not recently. Have you?
Point well taken and in fact you've made my point. This will ultimately boil down to a partisan free-for-all.
Obviously you've never screwed up so you can't empathize. Personally I don't care which party card he currently holds. Given the man's track record he deserves the benefit of the doubt.
Track record? He has a history of running with stories he hasn't verified, like the three times he had Ellsworth Bunker resigning, the two occasions on which he announced that J. Edgar Hoover would step down, or the time he incorrectly predicted that Nixon was about to veto an education bill.
Sheesh.
If you have ever had the misfortune of reporting the news, one quickly learns that not all of your sources are truthful. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible to always ascertain what is truthful and what is not. You can only do your best. As far as predictions or opinions are concerned, they don't count on my balance sheet.
Nevertheless, it may be possible that Rather impetuously jumped on the story because he doesn't like Bush, and in so doing he got careless with his sources. But that is just conjecture.
Come on, let's get real for moment. Nobody in his position (or in their right mind) would intentionally put their neck on the line like that. Unless of course he was paid very handsomely for it.
If you really believe that a news anchor intentionally ran with a story knowing full well that it was false and could possibly influence a presidential race then crucify him, but don't be evil about it. ;-)
It's not conjecture, the people CBS originally contacted to verify the documents told them they were likely forgeries, and they went with them anyway.
Expect to see Mary Mapes' resignation any day now...
And don't expect me to not be evil, that's just asking too much :)
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CBS pushed this story because Dan Rather and his producer are big-time Democrats.
You haven't seen any hard-hitting 60 Minutes episodes about Kerry's questionable war record, have you?