Memogate CBS News and the Texas National Guard Story
On September 8, 2004, CBS's News's 60 Minutes Wednesday aired a piece alleging that President George W. Bush had received preferential treatment from the U.S. military that allowed him to land a slot in the Texas Air National Guard and thus escaped being drafted for the Vietnam War. The 60 Minutes Wednesday report hinged on documents that were allegedly taken from Lt. Col. Jerry Killian and given to CBS. After the report aired, several Internet bloggers began to raise questions about the documents citing the typeface on them that appeared to have come from a computer. The questions blew into a media storm and led to a September 20th statement from the network, that "CBS cannot prove that the documents are authentic." CBS launched an internal inquiry that led to a report released on January 10 and ultimately the ouster of three executives and the piece's producer, Mary Mapes. CBS anchor Dan Rather announced he would retire on March 24, but will remain with CBS News as a correspondent for 60 Minutes Sunday and 60 Minutes Wednesday. Listed here, some important documents from the saga as well as a list of some stories about the controversy. The Thornburgh-Boccardi Report Statement of CBS CEO Les Moonves Mary Mapes Statement upon leaving CBS Columbia Journalism Review's report on the role of blogs in the CBS News controversy: Blog-Gate Blog-Gate: We Got Letters Stories on the fallout from the 60 Minutes Wednesday Report: Reaction to the Investigative Panel's Report Note: Some of the articles below may no longer be available for free, but can be accessed usually for a fee or by using a database such as LexisNexis. Reaction to the Investigative Panel's Report "CBS gets it right-- for now" "Chained to the anchor" "Black days at Black Rock" "How CBS can salvage the evening news" "Document examiner in CBS case claims defamation" "Will CBS News' multiple-anchor concept fly?" "The changing face of network news" "A self-effacing arbiter of media failures" "NBC: Rather's story wouldn't happen here" "Rumors about CBS News, Stewart divert attention from real issues" "Katie Couric, CBS anchor?" "'Memogate' scapegoat was a messenger who erred" "CBS plans to change evening news format" "Anchors aweigh" "CBS News roiling, 60 Minutes four refuse to yield" "Moonves takes heat on '60 Minutes' report" "CBS looks past Rather to hipper news team" "CBS boss is considering multianchor news desk" "CBS News ponders multi-anchor format" "Let CBS' error be a lesson to TV news" "Future of '60 Minutes Wednesday' in doubt" "Journalism often means saying sorry" "Now comes the hard part for CBS" "CBS disaster reverberates far and wide" "Investigating the investigators" "What's ailing CBS News? Let's make a not-so-little list" "Critics question no-bias finding by CBS panel" "The 'media party' is over" "Scandal proof" "Day after dismissals, pain is acute for CBS News staff" "Rather keeps low profile after report" "Network's brass, critics take solace in the report" "For Mason, a history of breaking barriers" "Mainstream media clean house" "Rather: I'll keep Guard report's lessons well in mind" "Black eye" Coverage of the Thornburgh-Boccardi Investigation "Post-mortem of a flawed broadcast" "What the panel said about the '60 Minutes' report on Bush's Guard service" "A setback for a network, and the mainstream media" "Mapes: Decision to air National Guard story was made by CBS superiors, including Heyward" "CBS fires 4 staffers in wake of probe" "Report drives ratings down, but financial effect is minimal" "Report lambastes CBS News; 4 lose jobs" "CBS went easy on Rather, critics say" "Faceless take fall for CBS blunder" "CBS News adds post to enforce net's standards" "Why CBS may have to look outside" "Heads roll-- but not from the top-- at CBS News" "CBS ousts 4 for Bush Guard story" "Report on CBS memo likely to be delayed" Speculation About the Future of CBS News "Reinventing the evening news" "Viacom taking more of '60 Minutes' time" "'Impending doom' is the mood at CBS" "Anchor shakeup is cause and effect" "Broadcast news can still trump the web" "It's still a man's world on the idiot box" "Networks' new wave of news" "My pick for CBS anchor desk? Diane Sawyer" "Anchor battle! CBS news boys go to corners" "ABC's Jennings could be winner as Brokaw, Rather step aside" "Dan Rather and the search for the avuncular" "The future of network news: follow the money" "Institution of evening news not leaving" "Wishing on a star" "CBS makes wish list for anchor" "Dan got smeared" Dan Rather Announces His Retirement "'It's time to move on,' Dan Rather reports" "Rather to step down as CBS News anchor" "CBS begins hunt for Rather's successor" "Rather quitting as CBS anchor in abrupt move" "A reporter-anchor who blazed a trail of his own" "Without Rather, CBS can get a fresh start, some say" "Dan Rather to step down at CBS" "Anchor's aweigh for Dan Rather" "Rather built a hard-news, but folksy image" "Audience decline an old story" "White male anchors still rule" "A chronology of Dan Rather's career" "Dan Rather stepping down" "Major network news chiefs review election, look to future" "Cautious CBS tries to atone" "'60 Mins Wednesday' threatened" "Media have become the message in a bruising political year" "CBS must regain courage in wake of Rather report" "Courage? Under fire" "CBS' Rather review due after election" "Jennings and Brokaw speak up for Rather" "Dan Rather, in the eye of the storm" "What Rather wrought" "CBS scandal highlights tension between bloggers and news media" "Memogate sticks CBS with a Rather significant debate distraction" "We'd Rather not" "Lawmaker may seek hearings on TV news methods" "Maintaining net[work] standards not getting easier" "Poll: CBS' memo story an 'honest mistake'" "Rather knot" "Dan Rather's future a complicated question" "CBS tries to clear up signals on future of 'Evening News'" "Rather may have been a victim of his own style" "Rather should have known, and done, better" "CBS explodes liberal media bias myth" "Pricking Thornburgh" "CBS nixes '60 Minutes' story on Iraq war" CBS Apologizes and Appoints Investigative Panel "Stations get e-mails to oust Dan Rather" "Investigator for CBS criticized '60 Minutes'" "'60 Minutes' gets an update" "Who will succeed Rather?" "Rove scoffs at charge he was CBS source" "CBS tackles 1 scandal, is fined for a 2nd" "CBS appoints 2 to probe its Guard story" "CBS appoints 2-man panel to investigate guard report" "2 named to head CBS memo inquiry" "Breaking the news, then becoming it" "What to do about CBS' performance" "CBS probe must look at standards, accountability" "CBS proves medium is still the message" "Kerry camp rejects CBS link" "White House links memos, Kerry effort" "Vexed, lies & videotape: Kerry blames GOP on CBS ploy" "CBS says producer violated policy" "Rather's producer assured CBS execs on Guard memo" "CBS, sitting between fiasco and fallout" "Rather news ratings down 10% over year" "Poor judgment at CBS" "Civil war at '60 Minutes'" "Tempers flare over CBS News document flap" "Memo to Rather: Out-fox the critics-- go left, old man!" "CBS storm washes over Viacom" "Rather on the document errors" "Dan Rather statement on memos" "Questions surround man who provided documents" "CBS to name panel to exam Bush documents" "Dan's darkest day" "CBS says it's sorry for story on Bush" "Apology from CBS News on Bush memos" "Rather sorry" "CBS to say it was misled on Bush guard memos" "Bush says questions about Guard memos used by CBS 'need to be answered'" "After blogs got hits, CBS got a black eye" "In rush to air, CBS quashed memo worries" "CBS News concludes it was misled on National Guard memos, network says" "Saving CBS News from itself" The Original Story, and Doubts Raised "Lather over Rather" "Familiar roles for Rather and his critics" "In Abilene, folks not whipped up over fishy faxes" "House GOP turns on Rather" "Call in Congress" "Rooney'd rather CBS fessed up" "Media went afoul in coverage of Kelley, CBS documents" "CBS acknowledges questions on Bush documents" "CBS Guard documents traced to Tex. Kinko's" "CBS blinks" "CBS backs away from authenticity of documents" "Dan Rather to Bush: 'Answer the questions'" "War over war records: a losing battle" "Document experts say CBS ignored memo 'red flags'" "Rather rides out latest partisan storm" "Dan's 'scoop' is as shaky as his status" "Expert cited by CBS says he didn't authenticate papers" "CBS offers new experts to support guard memos" "The day CBS News got 'blogged' down" "Old news, long overdo" "Amid criticism, CBS stands by its reports" "CBS, Rather stand firm on Bush story as furor swells" "Those discredited memos" "Playing to the media in attacks on service" "Some question authenticity of papers on Bush" "'Globe' reporter explains timing of latest Bush probe" |
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