Important Update: It seems that Howard hasn’t filed suit against CBS. He’s hired a lawyer to prepare a suit when the time comes. Sources say he will sue if CBS doesn’t clear his name. In that regard, count on this post title being accurate soon enough. Sacrificial lambs must die. Figuratively speaking.
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I read the 224-page “Rathergate” Report but never got the chance to blog about it.

In a nutshell, the Texas Army National Guard story was the baby of producer Mary Mapes (pictured below left), a Bush hater who chased the story for five years. During an election cycle where her guy (John Kerry) was getting clobbered by the Swift Boat vets and his own dull personality, Mapes and others, including Dan Rather (who is still employed at CBS), ran what’s known in the report as the “Segment,” which was based on badly forged memos and a witness who lied to the producers during the investigation.

In the Segment, which ran on September 8, and others to follow, Rather misled viewers by implying that the obviously forged memos had been authenticated by CBS’s experts. In fact, none of the four document examiners authenticated the documents, nor could they because the documents were copies, not originals. One of the handwriting and document experts warned Mapes not to go on the air with the documents, and she was told to mind her own business.

Bottom line — Inexplicably, the “Panel” concluded that CBS employees involved in this sloppy mess, despite glaring leftism (made-up word), were not motivated by political bias but simply a competitive rush to get the segment on the air to beat the other networks. Here’s a PDF of the report.

By the way, did I mention that Mapes and Bill Burke, the star witness who gave her the forged documents and lied about where he got them, had been in contact with the Kerry campaign during the Segment’s preparation??? It was very frustrating to have followed Rathergate from the beginning, watch bloggers develop the story, then read the report and see page after page of political bias, only to have the Panel wimp out in the end. This was only about getting on the air with Bush dirt first. That’s all, nothing more, they said. Weenies.

Four employees at CBS were fired over this mess, but compared to the head honchos, they are just underlings and scapegoats. By the way, the fired employees are still there. Many speculated they were preparing to sue for wrongful termination.

There is so much more to the report, but that should give you a general idea. WorldNetDaily has a good report round-up, and Power Line lawyer/blogger Paul Mirengoff does an excellent job applying legal principles to this mess to show that CBS’s bias couldn’t have been more obvious. Ironically, one member of the Panel was Attorney General.

This leads us to Josh Howard, an executive producer who tried to fix this mess before it spiraled even more out of control. He was rebuffed by top brass. Ratherbiased.com cites the section of the report which proves he wanted to admit the memos were forged. Also see Power Line.

The New York Observer has the story. Incidentally, I think the story is poorly written. But that’s not the point, I guess. Here’s a excerpt:

Mr. Howard and two other ousted CBS staffers — his top deputy, Mary Murphy, and CBS News senior vice president Betsy West — haven’t resigned. And sources close to Mr. Howard said that before any resignation comes, the 23-year CBS News veteran is demanding that the network retract Mr. Moonves’ remarks, correct its official story line and ultimately clear his name….

Mr. Howard also believes, those sources said, that the report itself excludes evidence that would implicate top management at CBS and restore Mr. Howard’s reputation in the television news business.

A senior official at CBS told NYTV that Mr. Howard’s claims had no basis in fact and that management had only acted on the findings of the report, which the company deemed thorough, accurate and independent.

I find myself in the ironic position of defending Howard, although at the time I read the report, I thought his ouster was justified. He should have pushed harder to exclude the documents and/or require more evidence of their authenticity from Mapes.

CBS got off easy, and many bloggers expressed the same sentiment after news of the firings. Dan Rather is still there, so we gained no satisfaction from the “resolution.” Despite the report’s conclusion that CBS, including Rather, mislead viewers, he and other top folks still have their jobs.

I’m behind Howard all the way on this, and I hope he’s aided by a blog swarm that forces CBS to either retract their statements about him or initiates another investigation into CBS. A real investigation this time.

See the Rathergate category for background information. My personal favorite is the post that started it all. The Boston Globe based their story on the memos and tried to back-pedal and point fingers when they turned out to be forgeries. Weenies.
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Links: INDC Journal, Wizbang (and here), interesting semi-related post at JustOneMinute, Liberty Dad, Power Line, Michelle Malkin, Powerpundit, Confederate Yankee, ThoughtsOnline…

Captain Ed is on Howard’s side, too. So is Dinocrat. This could get interesting.

Slant Point also supports Howard.

Do you support Howard’s actions? Do you think he should just go away? In order to understand exactly what’s going on, you probably should invest some time in reading the report.

Update: Cross-posted at Ratherbiased.com.

Semi-related post at Vodkapundit.

Another Update: Check it out. Someone’s blogging under “myopic zeal” already.

Heads rolled! These are what the consequences of sloppy journalism should be. In a failed attempt to smear George Bush, four employees at CBS were FIRED over their role in Rathergate:

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with a “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and 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.

“We deeply regret the disservice this flawed 60 Minutes Wednesday report did to the American public, which has a right to count on CBS News for fairness and accuracy,” said CBS President Leslie Moonves. (My emphasis)

Here’s a PDF of the 234-page report (HTML via Wizbang). I’ll have more to say on this later. Right now I’m raking Bush over the coals for violating the prohibition against “covert propaganda.” After I’m done, Dan Rather will be raked.

I’ll use this opportunity to promote my recent National Review Online article, “The Blogosphere’s Smaller Stars.”

Continue reading Four CBS Employees Fired Over Rathergate and “Myopic Zeal”

According to Power Line, the two-person panel reviewing the Rathergate debacle will release its report today.

Back in September, a few days into the blogosphere buzz about Dan Rather’s forged memos (purporting to show that George Bush received preferential treatment while in the Texas Air National Guard), I spent a little time thinking about the computing revolution generally and Rather’s fall specifically. I came up with “Computing Dan Rather,” a take on a previous post called “Blogging Matt Drudge.”

Happy Friday!
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Posted on September 17, 2004

Computing Dan Rather

It’s been suggested that I shouldn’t get caught up in the pettiness and minutiae of fonts and kerning and forgery. I’m urged to move on to more substantive and relevant issues. We all have better things to do than devote time and energy to this story.

There are many great and high-minded ideas and discussions we should be engaged in, but this moment in history, the eve of a presidential election, is very important. The memos matter (see Donald Sensing’s comment). But first, let’s talk about Dan Rather.

Continue reading Rathergate Report To Be Released Today

Hello, loyal readers and fellow bloggers. I need your help. I’m conducting an informal survey about the role (if any) small- and medium-sized bloggers played in Rathergate.

I haven’t defined “small” and “medium” because I want to hear from a wide range of people. If you believe you’ve contributed to the exposure of the forged Killian memos or just the flow of information, I want to hear from you.

Continue reading Survey: The Role Of Smaller Bloggers In Rathergate

This post is reserved for the latest CBS updates and blogger comments. Also added will be mainstream media’s latest assessments of bloggers. For instance, Power Line mentions an article from the New York Times Magazine.

See Dan Rather’s free-fallout into the ratings dumpster.

Semi-related: JustOneMinute on the New York Times on Valerie Plame, world-class spy.

Hey bloggers, do you want to interview one of those foreign observers sent to monitor the November election? See No quarters blog.

Update: Does CBS source Bill Burkett have a blog? Ask Beldar.

Until the CBS hype abates, I’ll post at least one entry a day on the latest developments and blogger comments.

Jay Rosen at PressThink asks, “Does CBS News Have a Political Future in This State?” The “AP Writers For Kerry” club stumps for their man. Power Line has the details. Protein Wisdom has more on the AP and other interesting things…

See Joe at Daily Newsbrief for the latest on liberal bias. Why do we let them get away with this stuff?

Update: Power Line has more on the AP, especially reporter Jennifer Loven. Read the latest on Bill Burkett, CBS source, at Allahpundit.

Update II (9/26): Michelle Malkin dissects a column by conservative-turned-liberal David Broder, and Power Line does the same to a column written by Richard Cohen. Good stuff.

How closely have you been following the network’s folly? Leave a comment and I’ll link to your latest post.

More updates to follow…

Somebody at the Republican National Committee considers me “the press” because I was invited to listen in on a teleconference yesterday. Chairman Ed Gillespie spoke boldy about the Rathergate debacle and says he believes a crime was committed. From the after-conference press release:
Continue reading RNC Chairman Implicates Kerry Campaign