CBS Producer on Thin Ice After Guard Story

[yardwork]

I had a feeling that this might have something to do with the Abu Ghraib story....if Rove did this, it was probably in revenge for the Abu Ghraib photos that CBS aired.

CBS Producer on Thin Ice After Guard Story

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

NEW YORK - The fallout from CBS's doomed story about President Bush's National Guard service most endangers a woman few viewers know but who played a key role in two of the biggest television stories of the year.

Mary Mapes, a veteran producer at CBS News, reported most of the National Guard story, including obtaining the documents CBS now says it can't authenticate. She also passed on the phone number of her source, former Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett, to the Kerry campaign.

Mapes, 48, was described by colleagues on Tuesday as a dogged and talented journalist who made no secret of her liberal political beliefs.

She's only a few months removed from a career-defining highlight. Mapes took a story that had received little attention — the abuse of prisoners by American soldiers in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison — and unearthed the photos that gave the story its visceral impact.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=ap/cbs_guard_mapes

[librechik]

1. revenge is the breath of life to the Bushies

despicable--

[Cha]

2. Hang in there, Mary and bless your

"Liberal" heart..cause there aren't that many of them out there in tv land.

And thanks tremendously for the "Abu Ghraib prison" story.

ANd that is why rove, et al are so determined to bring down CBS.

[aquart]

3. Roger Stone ain't no Democrat.

Lalalalalalalalalala.

Pass the popcorn.

[robbedvoter]

6. Nope. Swinging, sex orgies family values Stones - fun, fun, fun!

http://www.atrios.blogspot.com/

[aquart]

7. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[dogtag]

4. Yes, indeedy, the Shrubya is upset about that pesky

Abu Ghraib getting out in the open. Expert as they are at spinning, they were able to pull off the 'bad apples' ploy, but the lazy ass media is creaking along on the story, nevertheless. Perhaps by 2015 there will be an investigation that goes to the top. Oh, but the perps will have been pardoned....

Yep, Rather and company are culprits. Just imagine what Rove would have done if the story had come out via whistleblowers only.

[David Zephyr]

5. Blame a Woman. Blame a Jew. Blame a Black. Blame a Homo.

It's always the same old shit. Blame the woman.

CBS had better not fire this woman.

[SineOfNothing]

8. Rather needs to take the fall if there is to be one

Passing the buck is cowardly.

[David Zephyr]

9. Rather Doesn't Need to "Take the Fall"

Fox and CNN reported breathlessly about Saddam's nuclear program and cited reports proven to be false before they cited them.

CBS and Dan Rather created television investigative news.

They apologized for being used.

The fact that CBS's competitors are attacking them demanding "heads to roll" is market crap.

CBS and Rather should stand tall and move on.

And certainly, Mary Mapes, who broke the Abu Graib story, should remain.

[SineOfNothing]

10. I have to disagree

Rather gambled on a story and unverifiable evidence and got burned. To cover for him now is not wise. He is tarnished goods and needs to get the rest of the story out. Where did the memos come from? Where are the originals? Who is lying?

You know...all the information that a respectable journalists would have on hand to back up a story that seems to be missing here. Rather needs to dig deeper and find the WHOLE story here.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

11. The memos came from Texas...

... so chew on that for awhile. Go back to <http://www.democraticunderground.com> and check the top of the page.

People need to do more research before spouting off.

[candy331]

12. SON, my thoughts exactly , Rather and CBS started this mess and they

have to clean it up. Don't throw a punch if you don't intend to fight.

[brentspeak]

13. I'd fire her in record time, if I were the head of CBS

When Burkett was asked to provide CBS with the name of whoever provided him with the memos, Burkett threw out the name of one of his National Guard friends (who's almost certainly a former friend now). For reasons which defy logic in every conceivable dimension, Mapes failed to contact the alleged source, but nevertheless allowed the story to air.

If she had simply followed basic, elementary school journalism and called Burkett's "source", then CBS would have known from the get-go that Burkett was full of it.

How did she get this job in the first place?

[genius]

15. They should have made the documents less relevant and only

provided them as one source of back-up and not vouched for them. They had more proof than Fox or CNN ever do. Fox and CNN normally just report lies and don't apologize.

[Gloria]

14. Well, back in the 70's, Peggy Noonan worked for Rather ....seems

he has bad luck with regard to some of his underlings!! Noonan was plucked from CBS to go work for Reagan...

[Wind Dancer]

16. Nobody has been fired in this administration

for forged documents that led us into an illegal war. Nobody has been fired for the torture and murder of Iraqi and Guantanamo Bay detainees, nobody has been fired for ignoring or not responding to the many warnings that caused the deaths of 3,000 people. They have been promoted.

Why is it that nobody is ever held accountable but Dan Rather should be forced to resign because Karl Rove set him up? I am living in the Twilight Zone.

I wish I had seen this much outrage over the SBV lies and smears that are obviously not true but allowed to be aired and discussed daily for a month. John O'Neill is invading airways spewing hatred and filth nonstop. I feel like I am going insane with the Orwellian talk.

:shrug:

[anarchy1999]

17. This is just so wrong. Why is this producer being fried and Bush, Inc.

gets away with international crimes? I am truly discombobulated and confused.

These people come straight from a dark place known to most of us as HELL!