No matter who you support in the election - I find this an amazing story. A main-stream news organization runs with a story that their own experts warned them about. Now they finally have to come clean. Dan Rather should be fired, along with all those who worked on this story.
This should bother everyone.
Total disgrace to the profession of journalism. I don’t see how this is any different than the writer for the Times that was found to have been making up stories. Didn’t Rather have some sort of simliar incident with GHW Bush?
A couple of thoughts:
Will this story have “legs”?
Isn’t saying they can’t prove the documents true a bit different from saying that the documents are out and out frauds?
Will this story have any effect on how big media pitches stories?
“Will this story have “legs”?”
Do you mean the story about CBS’ failure, or the story about Pres. Bush’s service?
"Isn’t saying they can’t prove the documents true a bit different from saying that the documents are out and out frauds? "
Yes, it’s different for the purposes of discussion in this type of forum or with your friends, but for the purpose of news reporting, not being able to prove veractity might as well be the same thing as proving they are false. You can’t report on a subject with sources that might be correct, unless you specifically say that. At least, you can’t do that and expect to retain respect as a journalistic organization.
"Will this story have any effect on how big media pitches stories? "
Unfortunately, the very concept of big media really makes it difficult to get objective news. I would hope that this will make reporters take a second look at their sources before reporting, and that it will reinforce the good habits of most reporters, but I don’t have much confidence in media organizations that have so much money tied into various political parties and groups to maintain objectivity. I hope that I’m overly pessimistic.
I don’t know about legs, but CBS (if they’re smart) will stick to exactly what it is that they said in their admission. As to Mr. Burkett, forgery of government documents (and the forgeries carried letterhead purporting to be from a gov’t entity: The 11th F.I.S.) is a Class 3 felony. The U.S. Attorney’s office may investigate. Burkett’s story is that he misled CBS to protect the confidentiality of a source that he has, which won’t hold water as he is not now nor has ever been a journalist working within a news organization.
Burkett’s attorney should have the guy zip his lip and not say anything else. His public pronouncements could get him in hotter water than he’s already in.
K.
I thought the aplogy and explanation were pathetic. This falls under “could have known” or “should have known”. There is absolutely no exscuse for them or Dan Rather. If they can’t prove they are real or there is a doubt they shouldn’t use them. Period. He and CBS screwed up big and people should get canned for this. Forget about what the story was or that is has to with the election this is just pathetic, stuff a high school paper wouldn’t do.
"* in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting "* You have got to be kidding, how did they show good faith in any way and so much for a “CBS News tradition of investigative reporting”
"There are a number of serious questions that remain unanswered and they need to be answered. " Yeah, for instance, why is it that everyone else figured out these were fake within minutes of looking at them and you guys couldn’t or why didn’t you make a couple phone calls to people who were involved?
The really great part of this whole debacle was CBS asserting, at one point, that while the documents might be fake, they point to a higher truth. All of a sudden they don’t want to be reporters anymore, they want to be novelists. I thought that was classic.