CBS Fires 4 in Reporting of Bush National Guard Story (Update3)
Jan. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Viacom Inc.'s CBS fired four news employees after an independent panel found errors in a report anchored by Dan Rather that said President George W. Bush received preferential treatment while in the Texas Air National Guard.
CBS failed to do fair and accurate reporting and made ``lapses every step of the way,'' the network said today, citing a report it commissioned by a group including former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and retired Associated Press Chief Executive Louis Boccardi. The network fired senior vice president Betsy West, ``60 Minutes'' executive producer Josh Howard and his deputy, Mary Murphy, as well as Mary Mapes, the story's producer.
``The bottom line is that much of the Sept. 8 broadcast was wrong, incomplete and unfair,'' Leslie Moonves, co-president of Viacom, said in a statement today. The problems were caused by a ``myopic zeal'' to be first with the story and a ``rigid and blind defense'' of the segment after it aired, the panel said.
The broadcast became an issue during the U.S. presidential campaign and may have spurred Rather's announcement to step down this year after more than two decades as the evening news anchor. The panel's report may help the network repair its damaged credibility, said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief who's now a professor at George Mason University.
``Clearly their defense was too broad and too forgiving,'' said Sesno. ``Accountability matters because journalism is about credibility and public trust.''
New Standards Post
Viacom's Class B shares rose 47 cents to $38.55 at 12:30 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock fell 16 percent last year.
``All Americans should welcome today's report on CBS News' unprofessional conduct,'' Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement. ``CBS deserves praise for undertaking this effort in light of the concerns raised last fall. We should remember that today's report would not have come about without a vigilant public.''
West, who has been responsible for all prime time news magazine shows, declined to comment today. Dallas-based Mapes does not have a listed phone number.
CBS said today Rather asked ``the right questions'' about the reporting of the team who put together the story but was unwilling to consider that they could be wrong. He made the ``the same errors of credulity and over enthusiasm that beset many of his colleagues,'' the statement said.
The network today created a new position, senior vice president of standards and special projects, to enforce and uphold news standards, including the vetting of confidential sources. It named Linda Mason, a CBS writer and producer since 1966, to take the post.
Rather's Actions
In the Sept. 8 ``60 Minutes'' report, Rather said Bush received preferential treatment while in the National Guard in the 1970s, citing as evidence copies of memos provided to the network by a confidential source.
Rather recanted the story on Sept. 20 and said the network was ``deliberately misled'' by retired National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett, who provided the documents. CBS said Burkett provided a false account of the documents' origins.
Viacom Chief Executive Officer Sumner Redstone said on Sept. 23 that the story hurt CBS's reputation and that the company was ``committed to determining what really happened.''
Before correcting the story, CBS cited the ``thoroughness and accuracy'' of its broadcast. ``If any definitive evidence to the contrary of our story is found, we will report it,'' Rather said on the ``CBS Evening News'' on Sept. 10. ``So far there is none.''
`Driving Force'
Rather reversed himself after the Associated Press, the Washington Post and ABC News published stories casting doubt on the report, citing document experts who questioned the authenticity of the memos used on ``60 Minutes.''
Following an apology from Rather and CBS President Andrew Heyward, CBS appointed Thornburgh and Boccardi to investigate the story and report to company management.
Thornburgh, a Republican, served as attorney general under U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush from 1988 to 1991 and was governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987. Boccardi retired from the Associated Press in 2003 after leading the news organization for 18 years.
The Washington Post reported on Oct. 4 that CBS producer Mary Mapes was the ``driving force'' behind the Rather report.
Based in Dallas, Mapes has produced stories with Rather on the war in Afghanistan and was the first to obtain photographs depicting abuse of Iraqi prisoners, according to the Washington Post.
Campaign Issue
The story over Bush's service in the Air National Guard became an issue in a campaign in which Kerry criticized Bush's handling of the Iraq war. The Bush guard story was connected to the election when Kerry strategist Joe Lockhart told reporters that Mapes had put him in touch with Burkett.
Mapes told the panel she called Lockhart to tell him to expect a call from Burkett. Burkett had told her he wanted to provide the Kerry campaign with advice on how to rebut ads by the Swift Board Veterans for Truth group, which criticized Kerry's Vietnam service during the campaign.
When CBS broadcast the Bush report, the network said the documents were from the personal files of Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, Bush's squadron commander in the Texas Air National Guard.
Forgeries?
CBS reported that Killian, who died in 1984, wrote that he was pressured by General Buck Staudt, the head of the Texas Air National Guard, to ``sugar coat'' an evaluation of then-Lieutenant Bush.
Marian Knox, who was Killian's secretary, said Killian wrote memos criticizing Bush for not taking a physical and about superiors' efforts to protect him, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sept. 15.
After the CBS report, Knox said the four memos shown by CBS were forgeries, the newspaper said.
The CBS panel said the network failed to ``obtain clear authentication of any of the Killian documents from any document examiner.''
Typographical and formatting details in the documents suggested they were written on a computer or word processor, the Washington Post said, citing experts. Killian's widow also doubted their authenticity, the newspaper reported.
Rather, an Emmy-award winning broadcaster who has covered six presidential elections and wars from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf, said last month that his final broadcast will be March 9, the anniversary of the day he took over the anchor chair from Walter Cronkite in 1981.
The report said Rather was ``pushed to the limit'' in the week before the Bush broadcast after anchoring the 2004 Republican National Convention and covering Hurricane Frances. The broadcast could have ``benefited from more direct involvement on Rather's part,'' the panel said.
To contact the reporter responsible for this story:
Alan Mirabella at amirabella@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Cesca Antonelli at fantonelli@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 10, 2005 12:56 EST |
