Salon's Mary Jacoby: CBS, "The Cowardly Broadcast System"

[flpoljunkie]

This really pisses me off as it is a damning indictment of the Bush administration!

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/29/cbs_wmd/print.html

CBS cravenly killed a "60 Minutes" segment about Bush's deceptive case for invading Iraq. What did it contain that was too much for voters to see?

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By Mary Jacoby

Sept. 29, 2004  |  By relying on documents that could not be absolutely authenticated from a blind source to make the otherwise irrefutable case that George W. Bush shirked his National Guard duties in the early 1970s, CBS anchor Dan Rather dealt the credibility of journalism a "body blow," according to Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler. But just how damaging was that blow?

One measure of the debacle is a "60 Minutes Wednesday" segment that millions of viewers now will now not see: a hard-hitting report making a powerful case that in trying to build support for the Iraq war, the Bush administration either knowingly deceived the American people about Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities or was grossly credulous. CBS news president Andrew Heyward spiked the story this week, saying it would be "inappropriate" during the election campaign.

The importance that CBS placed on the report was evident by its unusual length: It was slated to run a full half hour, double the usual 15 minutes of a single segment. Although months of reporting went into the production, CBS abruptly decided that it would be "inappropriate to air the report so close to the presidential election," in the words of a statement that network spokeswoman Kelli Edwards gave the New York Times.

The real reason, of course, was that because of CBS's sloppy reporting on the Bush National Guard story, the network's news executives believed they could no longer report credibly on the heart of the Iraq nuclear issue, involving another set of completely forged documents: those purporting to show that Iraq had purchased yellowcake uranium from the African country Niger.

more...requires subscription, in the past you were able to sign up for a day pass

[rkc3]

1. "it would be "inappropriate" during the election campaign"

Is it just me or should everyone be asking this question -- "When the fuck is a good time to run this?"

It's only a bad time to run this if you are supporting the guy who committed the crime.

[flpoljunkie]

2. Bingo!

[riverwalker]

3. you know the drill

Call, write, demand they show this segment.


CBS News, 48 Hours, [e-mail]
CBS News, 60 Minutes II, [e-mail]
CBS News, 60 Minutes, [e-mail]
CBS News, Bill Plante, [e-mail]
CBS News, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, [e-mail]
CBS News, Early Show, [e-mail]
CBS News, Erin Moriarty, [e-mail]
CBS News, Face The Nation, [e-mail]
CBS News, Mark Knoller, [e-mail]
CBS News, Peter Maer, [e-mail]
CBS News, Rita Braver, [e-mail]
CBS News, Sunday Morning, [e-mail]

CBSnews.com, Dick Meyer (Editorial Director), [e-mail]

[flpoljunkie]

5. Excellent suggestion. I have already done so.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

4. Really! So then Fox "News" will go off air and NOT return until the...

election is over then, right?!?

:eyes:

[GiovanniC]

6. Attention People of America

Due to the closeness of the election, a moratorium is now in effect for the following First Amendment related program activities:

• Freedom of the Press
  
• Freedom of Speech
  
• Freedom of Assembly

Thank you, that is all.