Conflict-of-interest Kurtz really has it in for Mary Mapes

[DeepModem Mom]

I saw these two debate on TV; Kurtz was very harsh with Mapes, and she seemed to recognize him as one of her harshest critics.

WP: Journalists Who Won't Give Up
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 21, 2005; 8:41 AM

Investigative reporters are, by their nature, dogged, tenacious and deeply suspicious, crashing through official roadblocks as they chase the most elusive stories.

Some of them continue that quest long after their support evaporates, their evidence crumbles and even their employers abandon them.

Mary Mapes, the CBS producer fired over the journalistic fiasco involving President Bush's National Guard service, is the latest in a line of lonely crusaders, defending her work more than a year after it was widely discredited. Dan Rather may have apologized for the story, an independent panel may have denounced it and CBS News may have criticized her "disregard for journalistic standards," but Mapes argues in her new book that the critics are either politically motivated, cowardly or just plain wrong.

In challenging those who have questioned her work -- including The Washington Post and this reporter, who is cited in the book for a triple-bylined news story recounting the mess -- Mapes displays the relentless qualities that all good diggers share. But she also opens herself up to the charge that her obsession has clouded her judgment.

Mapes is right that the purported 30-year-old memos by Bush's long-dead squadron commander have not been proven to be forgeries, but is that the standard for broadcasting a serious charge? The documents have not been proven real, either, and endless debates about superscript and proportional spacing are not likely to change that.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html

[smb]

1. Is Anybody Paying Attention?

It looks like Mapes' book landed with a non-resounding thud.

[acmejack]

2. One of them landed right here on my desk.

I intend to read it.

[K-W]

3. Kurtz is rediculous.

Some of them continue that quest long after their support evaporates, their evidence crumbles and even their employers abandon them.

And this is all that really matters to Kurtz, the corporate media ejected Mapes and Kurtz is there to rationalize it.

Nevermind that thier evidence didnt crumble, move along, nothing to see here.

[cybildisobedience]

4. how dare he compare Miller and Mapes?

Miller tried to cover up for the powerful and dishonest, Mapes tried to expose the powerful and dishonest.
They are not two peas in a journalistic pod -- they are polar opposites in a media culture rife with corruption.
Too bad "media critic" Kurtz does see or care to understand the distinction -- he just churns out more right-wing crap.