Doug's Views

Okay, let me get this straight.

An "independent" investigation of the 60 Minutes September 2004 report on discrepancies in President Bush's National Guard service record cost the jobs of 4 CBS staffers. Senior vice president Betsy West, 60 Minutes executive producer Josh Howard and senior broadcast producer Mary Murphy have all been asked to resign. Producer Mary Mapes was dismissed for what was called a "Myopic zeal" in reporting the story based on documents that may have been forged.

Yet the investigation could not state conclusively whether the documents were forgeries or not. The report also found no evidence that political bias was a factor in the network's journalism.

http://www.fair.org/press-releases/cbs-memogate.html

The secretary for the General who's signature appeared on the documents said the documents weren't real BUT the information contained in them was correct.

http://www.fair.org/activism/cbs-memos-knox.html

Also the same discrepancies were reported by different news organizations during the same period of time (September 2004) using different sources.

http://www.fair.org/press-releases/cbs-bush-documents.html

Meanwhile, the stories reported in the New York Times prior to the invasion of Iraq that said there were Weapons of Mass Destruction caused not even a whimper of outrage. Even after the Times admitted the reporting was "insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged," the reporter who wrote the stories still works of the paper and reports on Iraq.

So as FAIR comments: it does matter who you piss off rather than what the truth is.

http://www.fair.org/press-releases/cbs-memogate.html

Ironically, the information in the "fake" memos has been reported as not true - which is not the case. Once again the President gets a pass.

Sad.