The Flawed Report on Dan Rather

[CatWoman]

By James C. Goodale (Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School, is the former Vice Chairman and General Counsel of The New York Times and represented the newspaper in the Pentagon Papers case. He is Host/Producer of the TV program The Digital Age. An earlier version of the article in this issue appeared in the New York Law Journal. (April 2005)

Report of the Independent Review Panel on the September 8, 2004 60 Minutes Wednesday Segment "For the Record" Concerning President Bush's Texas Air National Guard Service

A few weeks ago former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and Louis Boccardi, former head of the Associated Press, released their report on Dan Rather's use of allegedly forged Texas Air National Guard (ANG) documents covering President George W. Bush's military service. The report, as is well known, excoriated CBS for the use of these documents on its 60 Minutes Wednesday program on September 8, 2004. It is, however, a flawed report. It should not be uncritically accepted, as it has been by the press and by television commentators.

The report concluded that CBS failed to hire appropriate experts to clearly verify its statements and did not establish a "chain of custody" for the documents. CBS, according to the report, rushed to judgment on the basis of inadequate evidence, did not promptly acknowledge flaws in its program, and broadcast a false and misleading report.

CBS did rush to make inadequately verified allegations public and it was slow in responding to criticism. The report's conclusions on the other points are not, however, persuasive. Surprisingly, the panel was unable to conclude whether the documents are forgeries or not. If the documents are not forgeries, what is the reason for the report? The answer is: to criticize the newsgathering practices of CBS, whether the documents are authentic or not. As such, the report is less than fully credible.

Lost in the commotion over the authenticity of the documents is that the underlying facts of Rather's 60 Minutes report are substantially true. Bush did not take the physical exam required of all pilots; his superiors gave him the benefit of any doubt; he did receive special treatment and Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian, Bush's commanding officer, was unhappy with the loss of ANG's investment in him when Bush informed Killian he was leaving for Alabama. Before the broadcast, Mary Mapes, the CBS producer of the program, confirmed the facts in the documents with retired Major General Bobby Hodges, who had been Killian's superior in the ANG. Later Hodges told the panel he did not think the documents were authentic, but did not disagree that the facts were substantially correct.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/stories/2005/03/27/theFlawedReportOnDanRather.html

[Maccagirl]

1. Mr. Goodale's points are too rational

for an irrational time. What a shame that his wise words will be lost in the dustbin.

[poppet]

2. Why is it okay for cable news to

report as fact things that are not true? By the way, I don't watch cable news anymore, but think it has been obvious for many years that what cable newspeople are doing most of the time is rambling on with their own opinions and presenting these opinions as facts. Real reporting would be too much work.

[yurbud]

3. ask thornburg and this other dickhead when they will investigate Fox

[Harlequin]

4. Let's not just blame CBS. Let's blame the public for being SO STUPID

as to vote for this guy again. Jesus Christ.

[Jade Fox]

5. God, this pisses me off....

That the White House was able to make this about CBS's credibility rather
than Bush's ......:mad: