Breaking News
I have just received a breaking news flash from Fox News...
CBS OUSTS FOUR STAFFERS FOR ROLES IN MEMOGATE REPORT
I will post more as it becomes available. It seems likely, to me at least, that this move is being made in anticipation of the report on the Memogate Investigation being released.
Stay tuned, kiddies!
Update: Ummm. Sorry. Apparently the report has already been released, though when and what is said I'm still trying to discover. According to MSNBC, the following people got the axe:
The story, which aired on Sept. 8, relied on four documents allegedly
written by one of Bush's Texas Air National Guard commanders in the early 1970s.
Questions about the authenticity of the documents were raised almost
immediately.
The investigators also said CBS News had compounded that failure with
“rigid and blind” defense of the report, which aired on the “60 Minutes
Wednesday” news magazine.
A statement detailing the network’s response to the investigation said
that network executives had asked for the resignations of Senior Vice President
Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; “60 Minutes Wednesday” Executive Producer Josh Howard; Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer MaryMurphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated, it said.
The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, is stepping
down as anchor of CBS Evening News.
I'll see if I can't find more out for you.
Update II: Okay. The report was just released, though it is 224 pages in length. It may be a while before we've waded through it completely. In the meantime, see this.
...
While the panel found that some actions taken by CBS News encouraged such...
suspicions, “the Panel cannot conclude that a political agenda at 60 Minutes Wednesday drove either the timing of the airing of the segment or its content.”
Their findings were contained in a 224-page report made public on Monday....
While the panel said it was not prepared to brand the Killian documents as an outright forgery, it raised serious questions about their authenticity and the
way CBS News handled them.
The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was also faulted for calling Joe
Lockhart, a senior official in the John Kerry campaign, prior to the airing of the piece, and offering to put Burkett in touch with him. The panel called Mapes’ action a “clear conflict of interest that created the appearance of political bias.”
...
A key factor in the decision to broadcast the piece was a telephone...
conversation between Mapes and Maj. Gen. Bobby Hodges, Killian’s commanding
officer. Mapes told the panel Hodges confirmed the content of the four documents after she read them to him over the phone.
Hodges, however, denied doing so. He also told the panel he had given Mapes information that should have raised warning flags about the documents, including his belief that Killian had never ordered anyone, including Mr. Bush, to take a physical.
Hodges said that when he finally saw the documents after the Sept. 8
broadcast, he concluded they were bogus and told Rather and Mapes of his opinion on Sept. 10.
Hmmm. So essentially this report seems to be a slap on the wrist and a whitewash. The panel cannot conclude the piece had a political agenda, but also points out Mapes' call to Lockhart and her offer to put them in contact with Burkett. BULLSHIT! I'm sorry, but it had to be said. It is patently clear that there was an agenda...that is unless Lockhart served in the TX Air National Guard with Bush and she was calling for a comment. Or, did Lockhart know Burkett and she was merely trying to hook up two old highschool buddies? Sorry, I have to call BULLSHIT again.
Moreover, the panel is still not willing to come out and call the documents forgeries. Come on! They had access to the originals! Again...BULLSHIT!
So clearly, this "investigation" and the resulting "report" are worth more as toilet paper than they are as an "investigation" and a "report"!
Anybody surprised?
Update III:
Read the report here.
h/t to Fox News (nobody else is linking it).
Update IV: Am currently reading the report. I already have one question.
Under section E: The Vetting Process, a Chief Warrant Officer Conn is mentioned as the (Mapes-alleged) ultimate source of the documents -- deliverer of said documents to Burkett. But no mention is made that the investigative panel attempted to reach Chief Warrant Officer Conn, though they are quick to point out that Mapes didn't reach him. Seems to me they ought to have tried, considering they did in fact contact other people who worked at Ellington AFB with Killian, namely a Lieutenent Colonel Doug Via and a Colonel Rufus Martin. (By the way, neither Via nor Martin believe the documents to be authentic or correct in content.)
They probably didn't bother contacted Conn because Burkett retracted his statement identifying Conn as the ultimate source. But, did the panel search for Lucy Ramirez or the mysterious man at the livestock show?
Still reading. It seems the Panel did contact Burkett, but he initially refused to participate citing the unprofessional and unethical way he felt he had been treated by CBS. He later offered to participate, but only if his comments were left out of the report. The Panel refused. Good for them! They also attempted twice to contact Chief Warrant Officer Conn, but he didn't return calls.
Labels: John Kerry
