Dan Rather’s Apology
A statement from Dan Rather of CBS News:
Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question — and their source — vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.
Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where — if I knew then what I know now — I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.
But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.
Please know that nothing is more important to us than people’s trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.
Sorry Dan, we don’t accept. We barely believed you were unbiased before, and now you expect me to just say, “Ok, Dan’s apologized, now I can believe him again”? Bullshit! You did use the documents, you didn’t make a mistake in judgement…. in your zeal to slam my president, you ran with the story and said screw the factchecking. In my opinion, CBS News is in the toilet and I’m ready to flush. Here’s my list of how to get CBS News back out of the toilet.
Fire Dan Rather, Anchor, 60 Minutes
Fire Ed Bradley, Co-Editor 60 Minutes
Fire Jeff Fager, Executive Producer, 60 Minutes (Sun)
Fire Don Hewitt, Executive Producer, CBS News
Fire Andrew Heyward, President, CBS News
Fire Josh Howard, Executive Producer, 60 Minutes (Wed)
Fire Steve Croft, Co-Editor 60 Minutes
Fire Morley Safer, Co-Editor 60 Minutes
Fire Leslie Stahl, Co-Editor 60 Minutes
Fire Mike Wallace, Co-Editor 60 Minutes
If CBS went to this length, then and only then, would I start to believe an ounce of the bullshit they feed us on daily basis. If any of these folks are left in charge, how am I to know what’s bogus and what’s real on any CBS news program? Even further… how do I know that everything they’ve “scooped” in the past isn’t bogus?
The answer is…. I can’t.
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