CBS exonerates Rather- How will this effect future election coverage?

[The Vorlon]

CBS News has released the report on the Dan Ra^thergate Story regarding President Bush's Service in the Texas ANG.

The report concludes what we basically already know - that the folks who produced the story ignored any and all facts that did not fit their theory, and blindly rushed to air with a story that not only failed to meet even  he most fundentental rules of journalistic integrity, but indeed was produced in active, knowing, conscious, and deliberate violation of every standard of responsible journalism.

To give CBS some credit here, the report is astonishingly damning, and at least the folks CBS hired to do the report "get it" - if this actually translates to CBS "getting it" remains to be seen, but it is certainly a decent first step.

The fact that the report basically exonerates Dan Ra^ther will no doubt lead the GOP faithful to cry "whitewash", and the perception by Republicans of CBS as a defacto mouth-piece for the Democratic party will remain.

Here is the Report

Here is a link to the reports exhibits

Here is CBS's official response

The real story here, at least to me, is the erosion of the networks as the primary means of presenting "facts" to the American public, and the rise of the internet, the blogs, and alternative media as a counterweight to NBC, ABC, and CBS.

AS Dan Rather might put it.... "questions remains...."

1)  Will the fact that this report exonerates Rather mean that CBS is regarded by the political right as even more baised, and thus deepen, rather than heal, the percieved idealogical slant of CBS...?

2)  Will CBS actually change it's reporting habits and biases in a productive and meaningful way...?

3)  Will other media outlets get "gun shy"... or will this whole matter have a positive effect on the media who know know that "a bunch of guys in pyjamas" can and will take them down if they screw up...?

4)  How, if anybody, is a net political winner from this story....?

5) Who, if anybody, is a net political loser from this story...?

Discuss away

[J. J.]

I though the report was damning enough, and I wouldn't expect anchors to be anything but "face men/women."

[The Vorlon]

I though the report was damning enough, and I wouldn't expect anchors to be anything but "face men/women."

Rather still believes the report is accurate...

This is a direct and in context quote from the CBS report, in which Rather maintains that the documents in questions are accurate...

On that same day, Rather was interviewed at length by Marcia Kramer at WCBS, the CBS-owned television station in New York City. In the interview, Rather made clear that the blame for the airing of the September 8 Segment lay with 60 Minutes Wednesday personnel. The Panel finds these statements to have been far more appropriate than the CBS Evening News broadcast on September 20. Rather told the Panel that he delivered the apology and gave the WCBS interview in
support of CBS News’ decision that the time had come to stop defending the Segment and, indeed, to disown it.

He told the Panel, however, that he did not fully agree with this decision and still believes that the content of the documents is accurate. The Panel is troubled by these conflicting statements.

Page 26 of the CBS Report

[opebo]

The result of this witch-hunt is the press moves further right.

[Moooooo]

Lie about military records...  Get fired...  Lie the country into war...  Receive medals... *sigh

[J. J.]

Lie about military records...  Get fired...  Lie the country into war...  Receive medals... *sigh

If you are claiming to be a journalist and you lie about something, that was and is a reason for firing the person.  Not checking your sources properly is also a cause.  If you lie about something, you might be an attorney, but you are operating outside journalistic ethics.

Yes, this should have been handled better, but it became clear that this couldn't be verified, CBS should have backed away immediately; they didn't.  Hopefully, they will in a future case.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Lie about military records...  Get fired...  Lie the country into war...  Receive medals... *sigh

If you are claiming to be a journalist and you lie about something, that was and is a reason for firing the person.  Not checking your sources properly is also a cause.  If you lie about something, you might be an attorney, but you are operating outside journalistic ethics.

Yes, this should have been handled better, but it became clear that this couldn't be verified, CBS should have backed away immediately; they didn't.  Hopefully, they will in a future case.

However, if you're the President and you lie, that is reason for re-selecting.

[J. J.]

Lie about military records...  Get fired...  Lie the country into war...  Receive medals... *sigh

If you are claiming to be a journalist and you lie about something, that was and is a reason for firing the person.  Not checking your sources properly is also a cause.  If you lie about something, you might be an attorney, but you are operating outside journalistic ethics.

Yes, this should have been handled better, but it became clear that this couldn't be verified, CBS should have backed away immediately; they didn't.  Hopefully, they will in a future case.

However, if you're the President and you lie, that is reason for re-selecting.

Since I'm one of few people here not suggesting that Dan Rather be fired, I would suggest that he reasonable cause to believe the storry.  I would say the same about George W. Bush regarding WMD's.  He had reason to believe it, as any number of other people, including John Kerry did.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Not only that, but putting any partisan bias aside, had the documents been true, they were a big story.  It is easy to believe that Rather desperately wanted a nice big juicy story to retire on so much so, that it clouds his judgement.  There are plenty of reasons for Rather to have gone off the reservation and on the warpath that don't involve partisan bias.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Rather still believes the report is accurate...

It was.

It's a shame CBS won't stand by its own story.

[CARLHAYDEN]

CBS News has released the report on the Dan Ra^thergate Story regarding President Bush's Service in the Texas ANG.

The report concludes what we basically already know - that the folks who produced the story ignored any and all facts that did not fit their theory, and blindly rushed to air with a story that not only failed to meet even  he most fundentental rules of journalistic integrity, but indeed was produced in active, knowing, conscious, and deliberate violation of every standard of responsible journalism.

To give CBS some credit here, the report is astonishingly damning, and at least the folks CBS hired to do the report "get it" - if this actually translates to CBS "getting it" remains to be seen, but it is certainly a decent first step.

The fact that the report basically exonerates Dan Ra^ther will no doubt lead the GOP faithful to cry "whitewash", and the perception by Republicans of CBS as a defacto mouth-piece for the Democratic party will remain.

Here is the Report

Here is a link to the reports exhibits

Here is CBS's official response

The real story here, at least to me, is the erosion of the networks as the primary means of presenting "facts" to the American public, and the rise of the internet, the blogs, and alternative media as a counterweight to NBC, ABC, and CBS.

AS Dan Rather might put it.... "questions remains...."

1)  Will the fact that this report exonerates Rather mean that CBS is regarded by the political right as even more baised, and thus deepen, rather than heal, the percieved idealogical slant of CBS...?

2)  Will CBS actually change it's reporting habits and biases in a productive and meaningful way...?

3)  Will other media outlets get "gun shy"... or will this whole matter have a positive effect on the media who know know that "a bunch of guys in pyjamas" can and will take them down if they screw up...?

4)  How, if anybody, is a net political winner from this story....?

5) Who, if anybody, is a net political loser from this story...?

Discuss away

Nice to see you posting again.

As to your first question, to a large extent the report IS a whitewash.  CBS merely dumped Mapes et at to try to close the matter.  Those familiar with CBS will note that the big boys got away with it again.  No change should be expected in the slant from CBS.

As to your second question, no.  If you look at the ratings for the CBS views division, they have shrunk down (they consistently run third)  pretty close to their base (the Demographics of that base are pretty bad).

As to your third question, I suspect it will have little effect on most established media. 

As to your fourth question, the 'new' media (internet, cable news, talk radio) scored a major victory! 

The inverse is true for your fourth question.  The ability of the liberal media to control the agenda has been shattered.