Another Drudge Exclusive:
Andrew Heyward [President of CBS] Internal E-Mail to CBS News Employees
Mon Sep 20 2004 13:25:11 ETDear CBS News Colleagues,
Many of you have expressed understandable concern about the disputed documents used in the 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY report on President Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard.
Obviously, 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY had full confidence in the original report or it would not have aired. However, in the wake of serious and disturbing questions that came up after the broadcast, CBS News has done extensive additional reporting in an effort to confirm the documents’ authenticity. That included interviews with Marian Carr Knox, secretary to the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, the officer named as the author of the documents; an interview with Bill Burkett, the former Guard officer who provided the memos to 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY; and a further review of the forensic evidence on both sides of the debate.
Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic standard to justify using them in the report. We should not have used them. That was a mistake, which we deeply regret.
CBS News and CBS management are commissioning an independent review of the process by which the report was prepared and broadcast to help determine what actions need to be taken. The names of the people conducting the review will be announced shortly, and their findings will be made public.
Nothing is more important to us than our credibility and keeping faith with the millions of people who count on us for fair, accurate, reliable, and independent reporting. I know all of you work tirelessly to be worthy of that trust. I hope today’s public statements about the documents are an important first step in restoring YOUR confidence in the standards and systems we have in place to ensure that we live up to our obligations to our viewers, listeners, and readers — and to one another.
Thanks
Andrew
CBS ought to be ashamed. Heyward and Rather need to hold a primetime press conference and answer for what they’ve done. Then Congress should investigate CBS and find out who the source of the forged Killian memos was and whether he/she is connected to John Kerry’s campaign. If there’s no connection, good for Kerry. Bunch of newspaper idiots.
More links: Allahpundit spends every waking hour on this stuff (and this). Corante has more advice for CBS.
RatherBiased is posting at Mudville Gazette due to fire at his host company, and INDC Journal notes the DNC is headed for a fall. Sort of. Blogs for Bush has links to TIME Magazine’s article about bloggers.
Update: Regarding my remark about the Kerry campaign, check this out. Power Line picked up on this, too.
What a “left-handed” apology. It would have been more honest if CBS said,”Due to our visceral hatred af all things related to George Bush, we were willing to use any available means of destroying his hope of re-election.”
Comment by Rick Bridgeman — 09.20.04 @ 7:13 pm
Even if the documents weren’t phony (which I don’t believe for a moment), they wouldn’t constitute the slightest reason not to vote for Bush. In the same way, even if Kerry had been as much of a hero in ‘Nam as he is made out to be, this wouldn’t constitute the slightest reason to vote for him. The issue is: what sort of statesmen (if that high-sounding name isn’t out of place in today’s political climate) has the record shown these men to be? Judged by that criterion, Bush may not be a giant, but he’s still superior to Kerry, at least in my book.(Of course, it’s also true that neither campaign is centrally and vigorously addressing other pressing issues: judicial activism, the future solvency of medicare, etc., etc.)
It would be nice if “Rathergate” would awaken people of good will who aren’t aware of it to the fact of “liberal bias” in the media. I suppose that’s too much to hope for. I guess I’ll just have to content myself with a little Schadenfreude.
On second thought, maybe “Rathergate” should also raise questions among conservatives, and others concerned with the health of the culture, about the public-opinion influincing power of television. I would hazard the claim—heretical to many, I don’t doubt—that TV, as a medium, lends itself all to easily to demagoguery, or even that it itself is inherently demagogoic. At least it is that when it becomes, as it has today, a principal forum for national politics and national political discussion.
Thanks, La Shawn, for all the work you put into this blog.
Adrian
Comment by adrian — 09.20.04 @ 9:16 pm
Thanks, Adrian. It means a lot to “hear” you say that.
Comment by La Shawn — 09.20.04 @ 9:21 pm
“CBS ought to be ashamed. Heyward and Rather need to hold a primetime press conference and answer for what they’ve done. ”
I wish people in our government did this when they failed to do due diligence.
Comment by actus — 09.20.04 @ 10:18 pm
Ah, sweet schadenfreude.
Comment by Jim R — 09.20.04 @ 10:38 pm
If CBS wants to ever regain any semblance of respect, Rather should be publicly criticized, chastised and removed, by 5 p.m. today, if not sooner.
The words should be something like this:
“CBS has dismissed Dan Rather as an employee today. We regret that our Managing Editor engaged in less than professional conduct and we believe he has committed serious ethical violations of printed CBS journalistic standards. We are asking Mr. Bernard Goldberg to return to CBS as our Interim Managing Editor to get our network back on track as a credible journalistic resource for the public. Furthermore, we are asking Mr. Goldberg to also have supervisory control over all 60 Minutes programming.”
Philip Pettus
San Gabriel, CA
626-975-1236
Comment by Philip Pettus — 09.21.04 @ 4:12 am
I actually sent A. Heywood a resume today requesting a job. I told him I had no formal training as a journalist however I did harbor a very biased political stance that could be helpful in their approach to journalism. I also told him I loved Texas and could work from there if need be, no need to move me to NY.
The heat needs to stay on CBS News. What they did was breech every known journalistic rule. They not only comprimised the basic rules of journalism but they allowed themselves to turn hate into reporting. It is not surprising that this could happen. What is surprising is that shareholders of Viacom are not livid. In this capitalistic society they should be screaming for Rather’s resignation.
Comment by cooper — 09.21.04 @ 11:13 am
Note to Mr. Heyward, C-BS lost credibility a long time ago, you are finally catching up to reality.Oh by the way Mr. Heyward buy yourself a computer and some comfortable pajamas.
Comment by ratso ferrari — 09.21.04 @ 2:07 pm
For years, we knew; we *knew* that the major media were biased towards the left. “Oh, no” they would say “We are objective journalists”.
CAUGHT! This is the moment. We have the proof in our hands. Let us enjoy this time (briefly).
Comment by Mark Slater — 09.21.04 @ 10:27 pm
If Dan Rather were a moral man he would publicly state that he let his personal dislike of George Bush cloud his reasoning. Then he would bid everyone a fond farewell, gracefully retire, and go away.
On the other hand, forging federal documents is a felony. DOJ should be investigating and eventually preparing indictments.
Don’t hold your breath.
Different topic: Why is Kerry laughing with vaudeville Dave Letterman while American throats are being cut by the vermin in head coverings? Has he or his campagin said anything about the filth in the mosques of Iraq? No? I guess Muslims vote Democrat, wouldn’t want to offend them by calling throat-cutting bad since that doesn’t seem to offend them either.
We live in a morally confused, possibly morally bankrupt, world.
Comment by Allan — 09.22.04 @ 2:00 am
Allan,
And what network puts David Letterman onto the air?
Noooo, they’re not cozy with the Kerry Champaign Campaign.
When any sane media outlet would put some distance between them and the canidate, if only to quiet the suspicions, and when any sane candidate would do the same, CBS and John F. Kerry (he was in vietnam) sit down and have a love fest on one of their flagship programs.
Well, at least Dave and much of his audience are already drinking the koolaid, from the sippers to gulpers.
Comment by SCSIwuzzy — 09.22.04 @ 9:21 am
If Dan was a honorable Brit, he would have comitted suicide. Not that I’m advocating it, but it is a matter of perspective. IIRC, the last US bigshot to do so I believe was Navy admiral, Boorda, back in ‘96.
CNN Excerpt———————
The nation’s top Navy officer, Adm. Jeremy Michael Boorda, died Thursday from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound hours after learning Newsweek magazine was raising questions about the legitimacy of some of his combat medals.
CNN has learned from Pentagon sources that Boorda wrote two letters before he died, one to his family and one addressed to sailors.
Sources said that in the typewritten note to the sailors, Boorda explained that he took his life because of the questions raised about his wearing of “V” for valor medals on his combat ribbon from Vietnam…
According to Newsweek editor Maynard Parker, the news magazine was working on a story that called into question two medals Boorda received during the Vietnam war.
According to Navy sources, the magazine claimed to have uncovered evidence that Boorda had for more than 20 years inappropriately displayed “V” for valor on the medals.
According to a source who has seen Boorda’s note to the sailors, Boorda wrote that he wore the Vs because he thought he rated them.
Boorda told the sailors how much he thought of them, and said that some people will not think he did the right thing, the source said. He ended the letter with a reference to “critics in the media” who have been “hard on the Navy,” saying “I have given you more to write about,” the source said.
The “V” for valor on such awards is reserved for acts “involving direct participation in combat operations,” according to military code. The Navy released documents late Thursday which indicate that Boorda was not authorized to wear a combat “V” decoration.
———————————
Ironically, Kerry claimed the exact same medal combination that technically does not exist because it has never been awarded in history.
Comment by Andy — 09.22.04 @ 10:08 am
Well, a bronze star with “V” device does exist. Boorda was authorized the medal, but not the “V”. John Kerry wears the silver star with “V” device. There is no such authorized medal combination.
Comment by Rick Bridgeman — 09.22.04 @ 3:26 pm
Calling someone so slack sounded so good to me that I had to use it in practice yesterday to describe the actions of a particularly lazy player. Thanks for the new phrase of the day LaShawn!!!
Comment by Chris Roberts — 09.24.04 @ 11:29 pm