too

If Rather should resign - Bush should do the honorable thing and commit seppuku.

 

I think the biggest surprise to me isn't that CBS News ran a story with shoddy fact checking...lots of news organizations are guilty of that from time to time.

What disturbs me most is that they ran this story about the President of the United States.

Now, as liggy will tell you, I'm not particularly a GWB supporter, and I'm not speaking of this President as a man. I'm speaking of the office of the President. I guess I'm bothered by the fact that the media doesn't have enough respect for the office of President to actually do their job and vet their sources effectively.

Frankly, the fact that they would run a story this shoddy about the highest office in the nation (and arguably the world) leaves me to wonder what sort of vetting process they go through if the story is just about one of us normal folks?!

 

Exactly my point.

 

 

Gotta love Lig, Jerry and Barry's passionate illogic. That argument wouldn't get past the high school debating coach. Illogic aside, Bush is up for reelection and his record is on the table. If we don't like it, we can vote him out. Meanwhile, the Fourth Estate does whatever it wants, is a major daily influence on our society and government, makes mistakes all the time, and is only answerable in court where it enjoys the highest protection of the legal system from any claims from civil plaintiffs, who must prove willfulness or recklessness, not just negligence in order to have their damages compensated.

Having said that, I fully support the first amendment and wouldn't change a thing. Except I wish I were taller.... and had more hair...(on my head....the top of my head).

 

(Except for the taller and hairy part -- we you the way you are.)

 

There is no question that in their rush to get the story out, CBS really blew it. But I think CBS collectively blew it, not just Dan Rather alone. It has been front-page news here in the Wash Post for days, including the retraction. The whole episode has distracted everyone from the issues we should be focusing on, and I, for one, will be glad when it fades away. I don't expect him to be fired or to resign.

 

Sheesh, why start firing the media now for incorrect or biased reporting? Why single Rather out from the others who have done the same? And if we're comparing media to government leadership misreporting of facts (since it was mentioned earlier in this thread), how about:

"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear.
We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program." President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction." Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force-- if necessary-- to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security." Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002

If this is the President's road to disaster (and his alone???), he's had some bad paving stones along the way, though apparently all of the above, as well as the media, have chosen to bury the above.

 

Stone Phillips and Jane Pauley had a show where, some years ago, they were having problems with a demonstration for a story about GM pickups spontaneously bursting into flames in a collision. The producers secretly inserted a pyrotechnic device in the fuel tank, crashed a car into the truck, and filmed the ensuing conflagration. No disclaimers were aired with the film, just a spectacular crash and fire. When they got caught, they issued a half-hearted apology and continue to work as news broadcasters to this day. What's more amazing, people continued to watch the show!

There are no standards for TV "journalists" any more.

 

The plot thickens.

CBS Faces New Charges Over Discredited Bush Report