WaPo Hitting Rathergate Hard

[Annie]

with graphics:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/graphics/cbsdocs_091804.html

 

[Annie]

with graphics:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/graphics/cbsdocs_091804.html

http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/002559.php

September 19, 2004
Rather Contacted Burkett, Offered Solidarity: Newsweek
In an intriguing detail to the Killian forgeries, Newsweek reports today that Dan Rather called Bill Burkett offering his continued support the day after CBS ran the discredited story on George Bush's TANG service:

Three days before the broadcast, Burkett e-mailed a friend that there was "a real heavy situation regarding Bush's records" about to break. "He was having a lot of fun with this," said the friend, Dennis Adams. Burkett told a visitor that after the story ran, Rather phoned him and expressed his and the network's "full support."
Newsweek's source is the friend, of course, and that's based on the oddball testimony of Burkett himself. Burkett's mention of the conversation preceded his outing as a suspect in the forgeries, however, and at least confirms that Burkett sees himself as a primary source for the CBS story. Burkett claims now that someone has killed his dog since he became the the focus of the story, and threatened his wife with rape. No word from Newsweek whether they've confirmed that with local police.

It comes as no surprise that CBS News employees have begun to despair at the damage done to their credibility over the Killian forgeries and the obstinacy of the 60 Minutes crew in denying their culpability:

CBS insiders are increasingly worried that the credibility of the network's news division has been grievously damaged by anchor Dan Rather's persistent defense of a story which relied on questionable documents about George W. Bush's National Guard service. "This has clearly hurt us," one veteran correspondent told NEWSWEEK. Network sources describe finger-pointing within the news division, with concerns greatest among "60 Minutes" producers, who fear the issue has tainted their entire program. While CBS News president Andrew Heyward has publicly backed Rather, the network has quietly assembled a team of additional producers to work the case.
It sounds like CBS may have overruled Rather and begun a quiet internal investigation into the fiasco. Perhaps they could start with the Washington Post's front-page story today. In the meantime, if they want to retain any credibility whatsoever, someone should tell CBS to put a cork in their whining that the forgeries have "distracted attention from legitimate questions about Bush's Guard service." When a media outlet falsifies a story, they cannot expect anyone to take it seriously -- and if they do expect that, then no one will take them seriously anymore.

Posted by Captain Ed at September 19, 2004 10:20 AM

 

[Annie]

It goes on for 4 pages...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31727-2004Sep18.html

In the early-morning hours of Sept. 8, Dan Rather was preparing to fly to Washington for a crucial interview in the Old Executive Office Building, but torrential rain kept him in New York.

White House communications director Dan Bartlett had agreed to talk to "60 Minutes," but only on condition that the CBS program provide copies of what were being billed as newly unearthed memos indicating that President Bush had received preferential treatment in the National Guard. The papers were hand-delivered at 7:45 a.m. CBS correspondent John Roberts, filling in for Rather, sat down with Bartlett at 11:15.

The dispute over memos of President Bush's National Guard record centers on the technology available in the early '70s, when the documents would have been typed. (George Bush Presidential Library Via AP)

Half an hour later, Roberts called "60 Minutes" producer Mary Mapes with word that Bartlett was not challenging the authenticity of the documents. Mapes told her bosses, who were so relieved that they cut from Rather's story an interview with a handwriting expert who had examined the memos.

At that point, said "60 Minutes" executive Josh Howard, "we completely abandoned the process of authenticating the documents. Obviously, looking back on it, that was a mistake. We stopped questioning ourselves. I suppose you could say we let our guard down..."

 

[Annie]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6039850/site/newsweek/

CBS News: A Source of Contention


By Mark Hosenball, Michael Isikoff and Anne Belli Gesalman
Newsweek


Sept. 27 issue - CBS insiders are increasingly worried that the credibility of the network's news division has been grievously damaged by anchor Dan Rather's persistent defense of a story which relied on questionable documents about George W. Bush's National Guard service. "This has clearly hurt us," one veteran correspondent told NEWSWEEK. Network sources describe finger-pointing within the news division, with concerns greatest among "60 Minutes" producers, who fear the issue has tainted their entire program. While CBS News president Andrew Heyward has publicly backed Rather, the network has quietly assembled a team of additional producers to work the case. Rather is privately telling colleagues he remains "confident" that the story, and the memos, will be vindicated.

One problem is that the network has not explained where the purported Texas National Guard records have been for the last 30 years and why they happened to surface in the closing weeks of a presidential campaign. Emily Will, a documents expert approached by CBS to examine the memos, told NEWSWEEK that she was told by a CBS News producer that the network's source had received the memos anonymously through the mail. Intense scrutiny has centered on the role of William Burkett, a former National Guard official who charged last February that he saw Bush Guard documents in a trash can in 1997—an allegation that Guard officials strongly denied. A source who worked with CBS on the story said Burkett was identified by a producer as a conduit for the documents. Three days before the broadcast, Burkett e-mailed a friend that there was "a real heavy situation regarding Bush's records" about to break. "He was having a lot of fun with this," said the friend, Dennis Adams. Burkett told a visitor that after the story ran, Rather phoned him and expressed his and the network's "full support." CBS has declined to comment on the sourcing of the network's story. Burkett's lawyer told the press his client would never "condone forgery," but did not respond to detailed questions posed by NEWSWEEK. Burkett himself refused to talk to reporters camped outside his house last week, although he did tell a journalist that since he began speaking out, unnamed assailants had killed his dog and threatened to rape his wife.

White House aides say Burkett has serious credibility problems. Internet sleuths last week discovered that Burkett had been a regular contributor to a Texas Democratic Web site; in one posting a few days before the CBS story, he wrote "There is no doubt that Kerry can't win this election without us." A biographical sketch appended to another anti-Bush essay Burkett posted on an Internet site in late August describes him as "one of the sources" for Michael Moore's anti-Bush film "Fahrenheit 9/11." Former Democratic senator Max Cleland confirmed that he got a call from Burkett in mid-August offering "valuable" information about Bush. He told Burkett to contact the Kerry campaign. A Kerry campaign official said the campaign could find no record of any contacts with Burkett. The campaign official acknowledged that the CBS docs are probably forgeries—a frustrating development, the official said, because it has distracted attention from legitimate questions about Bush's Guard service.

© 2004 Newsweek, Inc.

 

[tim_duncan2000]

This just keeps getting better and better.

Take that CBS! :finger:

 

[Merlin1047]

Excuse me just a second - heeeeee hee hee hee hee hee hee.

Hot damn, an early Christmas present.

Got another giggle from this passage:
"CBS insiders are increasingly worried that the credibility of the network's news division has been grievously damaged by anchor Dan Rather's persistent defense of a story which relied on questionable documents about George W. Bush's National Guard service. "

Damaged? Naaaah. No way. How do you damage somthing that's been totalled? I think the french would call this the "cup of grass". Or something like that.