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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (72568)	9/22/2004 11:51:52 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793859

Some CBS suits must be sacked Mike Goodwin - New York Daily News - nydailynews.com Tuesday, September 21st, 2004 Tick, tock, tick, tock. Time is running out on CBS News. Its reputation is slipping away like seconds on that "60 Minutes" stopwatch. But network honchos and Dan Rather are trying to tough it out. They figure their belated "so sorry" apology and promise to investigate Rathergate will keep the wolf from the door until passions cool. They're counting on the media's short attention span to save them. They know the drill - the press devours a story like locusts, then moves on, never to look back. Not this time. Not when CBS' deceit, half-truths and omissions continue to emerge, thanks only to the digging of honest journalists at other news organizations. Those are the very people Rather smeared with unforgivable charges of partisanship when first challenged. We certainly cannot count on CBS to tell us the facts. It has stonewalled at every step, ridiculously claiming its story was solid even as the documents were exposed as forgeries. The network still cannot bring itself to admit the memos are bogus, saying only, "We cannot prove the documents are authentic." That's not good enough. Rathergate has broken every standard of good practice in journalism - and we don't know all the facts yet. Maybe it's not even journalism being practiced. Indeed, this sounds and feels more like a political scandal, especially the growing evidence of contacts between the news division and the John Kerry campaign. So far, three Kerry people have admitted they had contact with CBS or its sources on the story. Are there others? And how could CBS miss all the signs that its document source, Bill Burkett, is a troubled man who has given various versions of how he "learned" President Bush got favored treatment in the National Guard? Basic research would have revealed the inconsistencies. But they came to light only because others did the digging - after Rather aired his "scoop" 55 days before the election. Sunlight alone won't cleanse this mess. Only action will, action that shows someone, anyone, at the network recognizes the extent of the misconduct involved. That action must begin with the suspension of Rather, producer Mary Mapes and Andrew Heyward, the president of the news division. Tick, tock. Would you trust anything you saw on CBS now? I wouldn't. Until we know exactly what happened, the entire news division has forfeited our trust and the benefit of the doubt. Guilty until proven innocent. Even David Letterman, the network's funnyman, poked fun at the news division. His Monday show spoofed an evening-news lineup, then asked, "Can you guess which story isn't true?" Ha-ha. The line that you're in trouble when late-night comedians make fun of you has a new corollary: You're in really big trouble when your own comedian makes fun of you. Maybe Rather will come to his senses. He told The New York Times he wasn't worried about himself, adding: "I am concerned about the reputation, integrity and honor of CBS News and the people that I work with. . . . I love the place. I would never do anything to harm it at whatever expense to myself." Okay, big fella, prove it. Step aside until all the facts are on the table. In this case, that's what love means.