Dan Rather Finally Wakes Up

[Tombstone]

STATEMENT FROM DAN RATHER:

Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.

Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.

But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.

Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.

[Tombstone]

CBS News Concludes It Was Misled on National Guard Memos, Network Officials Say

fter days of expressing confidence about the documents used in a "60 Minutes'' report that raised new questions about President Bush's National Guard service, CBS News officials have grave doubts about the authenticity of the material, network officials said last night.

Read: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/20/po...rint&position=

[thomas40]

the cbs news anchor dan rather now admists he is wrong in teh stroy he aired i emaid my comments on the situation what i felt about it.

[CVX]

Andrew Heyward Internal E-Mail to CBS News Employees

Dear 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

[Searock]

I came across this on the internet...

No Escape Route for CBS - Recommended Response from Killian Family

FYI: As posted at...
http://www.warroom.com/2004highlights/noescapecbs.htm

As a retired Air Force officer, I humbly suggest that the Killian family release the following statement to the press:

Based on overwhelming forensic evidence, significant internal discrepancies, and our intimate knowledge of the husband and father we knew as Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, we hereby declare the documents presented on CBS 60 minutes II to be forgeries.

Moreover, any documents of this nature that may exist are not official Air National Guard records, but are the personal records of LtCol Killian and rightfully belong with his family. We did not and would never authorize any documents of this nature for public release. Whoever would obtain these documents of this nature would violate the privacy of a deceased Air National Guard member and would have obtained the documents surrepticiously and against his will.

We are outraged that a major news outlet would have so little respect for the family of a deceased service member as to so pathetically attempt to manipulate the words of that member for political gain.

I humbly hope that the family will issue some type of formal statement or news release of this nature. If anyone can get this post to them, please forward it.
*********
* I keep thinking that there is some cause of action that the family could take against CBS. These documents, if accurate, are the private property of the family. But if they are not, it's a fraud perpetrated against a family.
I know you can't libel the dead. But that doesn't mean there isn't another legal theory for a cause of action.

* SeeBS had to say they were personal papers because falsifying official documents is a felony, and the Justice Department could have launched an investigation. However, if these were personal papers, released without permission of the estate, perhaps there is a possibility of a lawsuit against CBS for defamation of the late Col. Killian's character.

FYI: As posted at...
http://www.warroom.com/2004highlights/manbush.htm

Man named in Bush memo left Guard before document was written

BY PETE SLOVER The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN, Texas - (KRT) - The man named in a disputed memo as exerting pressure to "sugar coat" President Bush's military record left the Texas Air National Guard a year and a half before the memo was supposedly written, his own service record shows.

An order obtained by The Dallas Morning News shows that Col. Walter "Buck" Staudt was honorably discharged on March 1, 1972. CBS News reported this week that a memo in which Staudt was described as interfering with officers' negative evaluations of Bush's service, was dated Aug. 18, 1973...

CBS Fallgal Mapes Still Working Forged Doc Story
FYI: AS posted at...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...22/94426.shtml

Gillespie Implicates Kerry's Campaign in Document 'Crime'
FYI: As posted at...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...2/154637.shtml

Poynter: CBS Caught in 'Conflict of Interest'
FYI: As posted at...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...2/123108.shtml

Sun: CBS's Corporate Board Has Close Ties to Democrats
FYI: As posted at...
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...22/30920.shtml

There is also an audio file (mp3) about this (news analyst)...

FYI: As posted at...
http://archives.warroom.com/archives.php

Just click on the 22 Sept 04 Archived Show...