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January 10, 2005

Rathergate AGAIN

Well, the "independent" (read: hired by CBS to investigate CBS) panel has released their report and pink slips have been handed out to 4 CBS News staffers over CBS's new "false but accurate" reporting style and the Rathergate memos.

The report stops short of saying that the "documents" were fake. However as John Hinderaker of Powerline says:

I should add that I don't attach great significance to the authors' failure to state a definite conclusion that the documents were fakes. The report does an excellent job of marshalling the evidence as to content, format and typography. No one (except, perhaps, Dan Rather) can read that evidence without concluding that the documents were a hoax. Whether the authors stopped short of the obvious conclusion in order to help CBS, or out of an excess of caution, I have no idea. But the evidence arrayed by the authors against the CBS documents is the last nail in the coffin of those who have continued to argue that they might, after all, be genuine.

While no one can say definately and without a doubt that the documents are indeed forgeries, there's no evidence out there at all to say that they are real. Unless you want to take Dan Rather's word for it.

There is however THIS, which I feel demonstrates quite conclusively that the documents are indeed forgeries. (Please give it time to load, it's worth it.)

None of this really matters anyway. CBS News will recover, Dan Rather will get his gold watch and retire peaceably. There's no crime to prosecute and we'll only be able to say that it's widely believed the documents are forgeries put forward in an attempt to influence the election. Those that are supporters of Rather and Mapes will say that the documents may be "false, but accurate".

Today the main stream media will continue to use "false but accurate" reporting simply because IT SELLS. It's now easy to go out there and make bombastic claims, throw out forged documents and make connections where none exist. The media has failed us completely with this issue and it's only the first outward indication of what we're sure to see come up time and time again.

Quite frankly, the entire episode is quite depressing. Journalists, who were once the "guardians of the truth" have merely become entertainers, leaving the rest of us to fend for ourselves out there in the wasteland.

Complete Independent Panel report on CBS News

Exhibits for reports and Appendices

CBS Official Statement Regarding the Report

--Jason

Posted by JasonColeman at January 10, 2005 5:17 PM

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Posted by: jo smythe at January 17, 2005 9:01 AM

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