CBS gives itself a pass on Rathergate
So what else did you expect?
Read the entire report if you want, but here's the only part that really matters:
The question of whether a political agenda played any role in the airing of the Segment is one of the most subjective, and most difficult, that the Panel has sought to answer. The political agenda question was posed by the Panel directly to Dan Rather and his producer, Mary Mapes, who appear to have drawn the greatest attention in terms of possible political agendas. Both strongly denied that they brought any political bias to the Segment. The Panel recognizes that those who saw bias at work in the Segment are likely to sweep such denials aside. However, the Panel will not level allegations for which it cannot offer adequate proof.
The Panel does not find a basis to accuse those who investigated, produced, vetted or aired the Segment of having a political bias. The Panel does note, however, that on such a politically charged story, coming in the midst of a presidential campaign in which military service records had become an issue, there was a need for meticulous care to avoid any suggestion of an agenda at work. The Panel does not believe that the appropriate level of care to avoid the appearance of political motivation was used in connection with this story. [my emphases]
The above is one of the most singularly dumbest things I've ever read, and indicates how dumb they think the public is. How else do you "avoid the appearance of political motivation in connection with this story" than by exercising a modicum of professionalism by doing the vetting and fact-checking that the blogosphere did within twelve hours of its airing? And, discovering that "the story" was pure, undiluted buffalo bagels, not airing the damn thing?
The answer is simple: they didn't care. They were determined to do whatever it took to prevent George Bush's re-election, and that's all that mattered. And this so-called report proves that they still don't care. What it does show is that they know they got caught, so they're heaving a few bodies over the side (Mary Mapes' most prominent among them), but that they're not going to admit their core problem of radical left-wing bias and start reforming their own house, which is why Dan Rather and CBS News President Andrew Heyward remain, unscathed.
And that's the thing that we've got to understand if we're ever to have realistic expectations about this issue: Big Media will never admit to a leftward political bias because the bias itself blinds them to its effects. They genuinely don't see their own bias because the only way they could is if they no longer had it. They think that they stand for "truth, justice, and the American way," and that good "journalism" means doing battle with the forces of evil - in other words, us. How else could Mary Mapes keeping chasing after a "story" that was completely discredited five years earlier? What else explains Dan Rather to this very day standing by the "forged but accurate" dodge? The standards to which they were holding themselves were nothing less than the end they sought: George Bush's destruction. To them, that constituted "good journalism," and it always will.
It's a pretty safe assumption that the rest of Big Media will cooperate with this travesty and consider the whole matter closed. After all, they know the great potential for collateral damage, and besides, next time it might be one of them in the crosshairs. And so this self-created tempest, this rake-in-the-face, will blow over, and they can all get back to business-as-usual, which will now be the permanent campaign to get George Bush impeached.
I wish I could say that I'm outraged or disgusted, but I never harbored any pollyanna hopes for this "self-investigation" to begin with. This is why I haven't blogged much about it. I always expected a whitewash, and a whitewash was what we got.
If you were expecting anything else, let this serve as a valuable lesson about how the far Left really works. You really will be a lot happier for having done so.
Read the entire report if you want, but here's the only part that really matters:
The question of whether a political agenda played any role in the airing of the Segment is one of the most subjective, and most difficult, that the Panel has sought to answer. The political agenda question was posed by the Panel directly to Dan Rather and his producer, Mary Mapes, who appear to have drawn the greatest attention in terms of possible political agendas. Both strongly denied that they brought any political bias to the Segment. The Panel recognizes that those who saw bias at work in the Segment are likely to sweep such denials aside. However, the Panel will not level allegations for which it cannot offer adequate proof.
The Panel does not find a basis to accuse those who investigated, produced, vetted or aired the Segment of having a political bias. The Panel does note, however, that on such a politically charged story, coming in the midst of a presidential campaign in which military service records had become an issue, there was a need for meticulous care to avoid any suggestion of an agenda at work. The Panel does not believe that the appropriate level of care to avoid the appearance of political motivation was used in connection with this story. [my emphases]
The above is one of the most singularly dumbest things I've ever read, and indicates how dumb they think the public is. How else do you "avoid the appearance of political motivation in connection with this story" than by exercising a modicum of professionalism by doing the vetting and fact-checking that the blogosphere did within twelve hours of its airing? And, discovering that "the story" was pure, undiluted buffalo bagels, not airing the damn thing?
The answer is simple: they didn't care. They were determined to do whatever it took to prevent George Bush's re-election, and that's all that mattered. And this so-called report proves that they still don't care. What it does show is that they know they got caught, so they're heaving a few bodies over the side (Mary Mapes' most prominent among them), but that they're not going to admit their core problem of radical left-wing bias and start reforming their own house, which is why Dan Rather and CBS News President Andrew Heyward remain, unscathed.
And that's the thing that we've got to understand if we're ever to have realistic expectations about this issue: Big Media will never admit to a leftward political bias because the bias itself blinds them to its effects. They genuinely don't see their own bias because the only way they could is if they no longer had it. They think that they stand for "truth, justice, and the American way," and that good "journalism" means doing battle with the forces of evil - in other words, us. How else could Mary Mapes keeping chasing after a "story" that was completely discredited five years earlier? What else explains Dan Rather to this very day standing by the "forged but accurate" dodge? The standards to which they were holding themselves were nothing less than the end they sought: George Bush's destruction. To them, that constituted "good journalism," and it always will.
It's a pretty safe assumption that the rest of Big Media will cooperate with this travesty and consider the whole matter closed. After all, they know the great potential for collateral damage, and besides, next time it might be one of them in the crosshairs. And so this self-created tempest, this rake-in-the-face, will blow over, and they can all get back to business-as-usual, which will now be the permanent campaign to get George Bush impeached.
I wish I could say that I'm outraged or disgusted, but I never harbored any pollyanna hopes for this "self-investigation" to begin with. This is why I haven't blogged much about it. I always expected a whitewash, and a whitewash was what we got.
If you were expecting anything else, let this serve as a valuable lesson about how the far Left really works. You really will be a lot happier for having done so.
posted by JASmius at 1:28 PM
<<< Home