CBS admitted Monday that it cannot vouch for the authenticity of documents used to support a "60 Minutes" story that questioned President Bush's Vietnam War-era National Guard service, after several experts denounced them as fakes. The network said it was wrong to go on the air with a story that it could not substantiate. "We should not have used them, CBS News President Andrew Heyward said. "That was a mistake, which we deeply regret."
| "We are, like, rilly sorry we got caught..." |
CBS also said it was commissioning an independent review of the incident, and will announce the names of the people conducting the review will be announced shortly.
| If there's any justice, a couple of bloggers should be on the review panel. |
| Sure thing...Kos and Atrios, presiding... |
The announcement was a major blow to the credibility of CBS News and its chief anchor, Dan Rather, who reported the story. Almost immediately after the Sept. 8 story aired, document experts questioned memos purportedly written by Bush's late squadron leader, saying they appeared to have been created on a computer and not a typewriter that was in use during the 1970s. CBS strongly defended its story, and it wasn't until a week later - after the military leader's former secretary said she believed the memos were fake - did the news division admit they were questionable. Even then, Rather said no one had disputed the story's premise: that the future president had pulled strings to get a relatively cushy National Guard assignment and failed to satisfy the requirements of his service. Rather this weekend interviewed Bill Burkett, a retired Texas National Guard officials who has been mentioned as a possible source for the documents. His interview will be on "CBS Evening News" on Monday. CBS said Burkett acknowledged he provided the documents and said he deliberately misled a CBS producer, giving her a false account of their origin to protect a promise of confidentiality to a source.
| Not a surprise since Burkett has misled plenty of other people before. |
The Associated Press could not immediately reach Burkett for comment. |