* The DNC Connection
LGF
When last I wrote about the Memogate report at LGF, lo those many moons ago, I identified the big question: would the report deal with the connections between CBS News and the DNC?
And indeed, this is the weakest section of the report, characterized by contradictory stories from the principals.
Mary Mapes' account differs from Josh Howard's:
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Mapes also told the Panel that before calling Lockhart, she discussed this request with Howard and that he approved the contact. Mapes said that Howard had reasoned that reporters exchange information from various sources and this request was not problematic. Howard, however, told the Panel a very different version of this conversation and said that he clearly informed Mapes that it would be inappropriate to intervene with Lockhart or anyone else associated with the Kerry campaign on Lieutenant Colonel Burkett’s behalf.
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She also tells a different story from Joe Lockhart:
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Mapes further told the Panel that at some point prior to September 8 she spoke to Lockhart. According to Mapes, Lockhart called her and the conversation lasted only approximately two minutes. Mapes told the Panel that she merely informed Lockhart that Lieutenant Colonel Burkett wanted to speak with him. She did not think she described Lieutenant Colonel Burkett as a source or that the subject of the documents ever came up during the call.
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Lockhart told the Panel a contrasting version of this conversation. Lockhart said that Clanton, who reported to Lockhart, had asked Lockhart to take a call from Mapes about a story she was working on related to President Bush’s TexANG service. Lockhart told the Panel that Clanton said that the story involved documents and that a call from Lockhart to a 60 Minutes Wednesday source who wanted input into the Kerry campaign might assist 60 Minutes Wednesday in obtaining the documents from the source. Lockhart was reluctant to speak with Mapes given that he did not want to give the impression that the campaign was assisting on the matter. Lockhart said that he agreed to speak with Mapes only after he was assured by Clanton that Mapes already had obtained the documents in question and that the reporting stage of the story was complete.
After recounting these serious discrepancies, the report just leaves it there—no further investigation needed, I guess—and faults CBS only for the "appearance" of bias:
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The Panel is unable to resolve definitively the conflict between the accounts of Howard and Mapes concerning whether permission was given to speak with a representative of the Kerry campaign in connection with the TexANG story. Whether or not permission was given to Mapes, the Panel finds this contact to be highly inappropriate. The September 8 Segment had a strong political focus and it was to air in the middle of a hotly contested presidential campaign. While it is certainly proper to receive information from a variety of sources, this contact crossed the line as, at a minimum, it gave the appearance of a political bias and could have been perceived as a news organization’s assisting a campaign as opposed to reporting on a story.
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It looks as if the investigators knew they had to bring up the issue, but completely shied away from pursuing it.
I wouldn't call this report a "whitewash," exactly; it's more of a "greywash." |
