CBS Fires Producer Who Broke Into 'CSI'
Mood:  bright
Topic: Media Bias
Upon reading this, I wondered if Mary Mapes was still working:

"CBS News has fired the producer responsible for breaking into 'CSI: NY' last week for a special report on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death, a CBS executive said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity."

Crowd at CNN Event Leans Democratic
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Red Sox- Angels
Topic: Media Bias
I saw part of the program that is described here and would have to say that I agree:

"With the help of local civic organizations, CNN producers spent a week in Racine selecting 325 people they said were equal numbers of Bush supporters, Kerry fans and undecided voters. But judging by the applause that erupted during the meeting, the crowd tilted Democratic.

"Adviser Tucker Eskew, representing Bush, drew some crowd support but not nearly as much as Devine, especially when they were asked about Iraq and the economy.

"'I think this crowd is leaning Democratic,' said Marge Henze, a retired teacher and undecided voter.

"'In terms of applause, the Democrats are making more noise,' said Republican Jim Eastman, a former Racine alderman.

"The tilt appeared evident when a Racine businessman asked what the candidates would do about the outsourcing of jobs.
'We have lost thousands of jobs in Wisconsin,' he said. 'Outsourcing has handcuffed us.' "

Outrageous?
Mood:  a-ok
Now Playing: baseball
Topic: Media Bias
Owen again hits the mark again with this post comparing the outrage over Dick Cheney's remarks three weeks back with Ted Kennedy's comments yesterday.

MemoGate Updated
Mood:  chatty
Now Playing: Brewers-Diamondbacks
Topic: Media Bias
The New York Times reports that CBS postponed a report on Iraq:

"The CBS statement followed a report in the online edition of Newsweek that described the frustration of CBS News reporters and producers who said the network had concluded that it could not legitimately criticize the president because of the questions about the National Guard report.

"According to the Newsweek report, the '60 Minutes' segment was to have detailed how the administration relied on false documents when it said Iraq had tried to buy a lightly processed form of uranium, known as yellowcake, from Niger. The administration later acknowledged that the information was incorrect and that the documents were most likely fake."(Italics mine)

You can see the problem, of course, can't you?

Also reported, this time by the Washington Post about Bill Burkett:

"Burkett is angry with CBS and anchor Dan Rather for disclosing his identity after promising him anonymity, his current attorney, Gabriel Quintanilla, said yesterday. Quintanilla said Burkett's life had become 'pure hell' since Monday, when Rather disclosed on the 'CBS Evening News' that Burkett was the network's confidential and 'unimpeachable' source for the controversial documents."

Lawyers quoted in the article say he doesn't have much of a case.

Memogate - Rather "Apologizes"
Mood:  cheeky
Now Playing: baseball
Topic: Media Bias
Dan Rather gave this statement:

"Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a '60 Minutes Wednesday' story about President Bush's time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question-and their source-vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.

Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where-if I knew then what I know now-I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.

But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.

Please know that nothing is more important to us than people's trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully."

Rather sticks by the truthfulness of the story, but if we can't trust them in this, how can we trust the story? Not that the story is outside the realm of possibility. Bush, as well as Clinton, Kerry and many others including me, sought to avoid the conflict in Vietnam, each in their own way.