...it's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there...

January 10, 2005

Four Fired At CBS

Hallelujah!

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated. [emphasis mine]
Bravo to CBS for investigating itself and releasing the report publicly. Here's an except - something that was obvious the moment Rather opened his trap a few days after the forgeries hit air:
. . . once serious questions were raised, the defense of the segment became more rigid and emphatic, and . . . virtually no attempt was made to determine whether the questions raised had merit
Apparently, CBS News president Andrew Heyward (who should have been fired too) ordered senior VP Betsy West to investigate the authenticity of the forgeries, but for some reason she never got around to it!
'Had this directive been followed promptly, the panel does not believe that 60 Minutes Wednesday would have publicly defended the segment for another 10 days,' the report said.
Here's a link to the 234 page report, if anyone's interested.

i wonder if the words "blog" or "Powerline" appear anywhere.

Posted by annika, Jan. 10, 2005 |
Rubric: annikapunditry



Comments

4 more victems of the facist, illigitimate, selected chimpy regime!

Posted by: Um Yeah on Jan. 10, 2005

There's actually a rather quaint definition of a "blog" in a footnote on the second page.

Posted by: Anon on Jan. 10, 2005

Both Powerline and Little Green Footballs were mentioned on page 153.

Posted by: LCVRWC on Jan. 10, 2005

cool.

Posted by: annika on Jan. 10, 2005

There was no political bias - just the illusion of political bias.

Posted by: d-rod on Jan. 10, 2005

Here's something I find hugely entertaining: if you scoot over to www.cbsmarketwatch.com, their sub-headline to the Memogate story reads "Four staffers and execs lose jobs over story based on faked memo."

Huh? "Faked memos?" That is a CBS website, is it not? And they're calling them "faked?" Uh oh.

In case they decide to change it, I saved a screenshot - just for the record!

Posted by: Dan-O on Jan. 10, 2005

Mary Mapes has been getting away with this crap for a very long time; Rather has as well.

That they both go out in a cloud of distrust and chicanery is fitting and proper.

Betsy West's response to Heyward is classic: "Just hardball the assholes and they'll go away."

Well, guess what? The Blogsphere doesn't go away. To those determined and motivated bloggers who sunk their teeth into Mapes' and Rather's fat asses, a huge tip of the hat. They will cheat no more, and CBS, as it fades into the past, will always bear the weight ot their nefarious deeds.

As Bill Clinton's name will be linked to Monica Lewinsky for all time, so will CBS's demise always bear the sobriquet of Mary Mapes and Dan Rather, R.I.P.

Posted by: shelly on Jan. 11, 2005

Sigh..not properly terminated..

Posted by: JD on Feb. 20, 2005