Winds of Change.NET: Journalism Fraud Update: Sept. 20/04

September 20, 2004

Journalism Fraud Update: Sept. 20/04

by Joe Katzman at September 20, 2004 9:13 AM

Watching CBS handle the Ra^thergate scandal is like watching the Toronto Blue Jays play baseball - you keep rubbing your eyes and telling yourself that the real professionals will show up soon. In both cases, it seems, we're destined to end up disappointed this year.

Here are the most powerful pieces and key developments since Friday:

Over at Corante, Ernest Miller has a timeline of the whole affair. An even more precise timeline with lots of good blog links can be found at The Weekly Standard.

The Washington Post visually compares the forgeries with other documents from Killian, side by side. Damning as hell, and funny as hell, all at the same time.

If you prefer visual representations, PoliDock.com put up a picture/flowchart showing all of the key players, and their reputed involvement at various points in getting the memos to air. Can't vouch for it, but it looks interesting.

On a less serious note, how about this picture of the Eye of CBS perched atop the falling tower of Barad-Dur? And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling hobbits in pajamas!

The latest retraction or refutation from CBS' "supporting" experts and claimed protagonists: how about General Staudt, whose influence was supposedly responsible for the memos (except that he had already left the Guard when they were "written")?

Allah says CBS is going to finally cave in. As the title of his post so eloquently puts it: "CBS: Duh" But can we trust them now to come clean on their sources? Not unless several heads roll. If further pressure is required, you'll find what you need here.

A Congressional investiation? I agree with these folks. Dumb idea.

Meanwhile, a talk radio host at a CBS affiliate in Seattle was apparently fired for criticizing CBS and suggesting that Rather should resign.

Viacom's CEO (CBS' parent company) just announced the sale of about $12 million worth of stock. Insider trading, programmed move, or something else? Hey, maybe he's been reading the Viacom message boards on Yahoo! Finance. But this also brings up an important question: just where the hell has Viacom's Board of Directors been this whole time, as CBS' brand burned and the stock slid? These folks put the "derelict" in dereliction!

Kevin Drum is upset that so many of us are spending so much time on Rathergate. I guess he'd like us to stop. Short answer, Kevin: No. But your post's lack of clue was pretty funny, so thanks for that.

INDCJournal, who played a big role in this scandal, notes that blogs are a complement for the MSM, not a replacement for it. He also warns bloggers not to get too cocky. Some long knives are being sharpened now that blogs have shown themselves to be serious players.

On a related issue, reader JC made a point in the comments section last week, and discussed FOX News' showing forged photos of Jane Fonda & John Kerry. We said that if he researched that and gave us URLs, we'd run it too. Now along comes a blog post (of course) showing that FOX acknowledged the displayed photo as a forgery. Case closed - even by Kevin Drum.

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Tracked: September 20, 2004 5:42 PM

Time to CBS (Cut the BS) from infidel cowboy

Excerpt: CBS is preparing to let us in on a poorly kept secret of theirs - turns out those memos Dan Rather used in his 60 Minutes II hit piece may have been forged! Who knew?!? The question now is how...

Comments

#1 from Mark Buehner at 2:45 pm on Sep 20, 2004

Its about to get more surreal. Rather is about to trot out Bill Burkett who apparently fed (if not created) the fakes. I am willing to bet big money that 90% of the interview will be about how Burkett agrees with the charges of the fake documents he gave CBS. Think about that. CBS gets totally duped and they are going to give a microphone to the guy that played a big hand in the duping. They are treating these forgeries like some innocuous peice of evidence that just happened to turn out wrong, instead of a deliberate attempt to fool the country and influence the election. The rabbit hole is about to get a lot deeper, stay tuned.

#2 from Robin Burk at 4:13 pm on Sep 20, 2004

Sorry about the Bluejays, Joe.

If it's any consolation, the Yankees have been less consistent than I'd like this year too. I mean, come on - losing by over 20 points???? So far we're beating off the Red Sox, though. Whew.

#3 from JC at 4:58 pm on Sep 20, 2004

Yep - didn't have time over the weekend to put something together, but in this case, Keven Drum responded to this, and there was a post on Tacitus.

I would think that the New Republic (who was the source for this) would have checked this out first, but not checking sources seems to be going around, doesn't it?

#4 from USMC at 12:13 am on Sep 21, 2004

Okay I just heard and watched the words come out of Dan Rather�s mouth.

�He did not come to us. We went to him and requested the documents.�

He being Mr. Burkett and we being CBS.

Burkett claims he was protecting his source and he was pressured by CBS to give a source. Dan says yep we pressured you because it was an important point for CBS.

Mr. Burkett also claims he told CBS to authenticate the documents and he laid no claims to the documents authenticity.

Now my questions are:
1) How could CBS air the story without authenticating the documents if what Mr. Burkett claims he told CBS is true. Mr. Burkett says he just threw out a name. The problem with this is what ever name he threw out it certainly must have been powerful enough for CBS not to authenticate it. Who could be perceived to be beyond such reproach?

2) How did CBS come to know that Mr. Burkett had said documents? Documents so powerful that they would warrant a story on prime time news concerning the president and his service in the Air National Guard.

This only gets worse.

P.S. Sorry about your baseball team Joe. After inconsequential reprisals concerning Roberto Alomar spitting on the umpire. I stopped watching.