BY DAN
KENNEDY
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click
here.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
TAKING CREDIT WHERE IT'S NOT
DUE. I was working during 60 Minutes last night, and a
transcript isn't available yet. But if past experience is any
indication, this
article at CBS.com is a
good reflection of what happened on the broadcast. (If nothing else,
it's obviously a good reflection of what the network chose to put on
its website.) And I have to say that I have a real problem with
this.
As everyone except Dan Rather has
acknowledged, CBS lost control of this story because of its own
shoddy reporting. On Tuesday, the Dallas Morning News broke
what to my mind is the
most significant story yet
in figuring out the truth behind the fake Killian memos. Every
account I saw yesterday credited the Morning News for its
exclusive.
Yet the CBS.com article makes
absolutely no mention of the Morning News. Instead, 60
Minutes interviewed the same woman whom the News
interviewed several days ago - Marian Carr Knox, former secretary to
the late lieutenant colonel Jerry Killian - and made it look almost
as though it were CBS that was getting to the bottom of this whole
mess.
I also saw two CBS transcripts on
Lexis-Nexis from earlier in the day Wednesday, hyping the 60
Minutes story. Neither of them mentioned the role of the
Morning News, either.
Now, giving credit to competitors
is a sometime thing. Television news orgs tend to be worse about it
than print, although newspapers often don't give credit when they
should, either. But this isn't a matter of giving credit. This is a
matter of a major new witness, Knox, providing further evidence that
the memos CBS presented as genuine could not possibly have been
produced in the early 1970s. The Morning News report was the
most significant to date in proving that the memos were not what CBS
claimed they were. Last night, CBS pretended as though Knox were its
own witness.
It just so happens that CBS may be
able to prevent what's already a major scandal from turning into a
cataclysmic one, given that Knox also says the memos appear to be
based on actual documents that existed at one time. But CBS should
stop pretending that it's even in the game. Instead, it's sitting in
the bleachers, hoping that other news orgs will dig up enough to let
them salvage just a tiny bit of pride.
At least the CBS report comes with
a warning: "60 Minutes will continue to aggressively
investigate the story of President Bush's service in the National
Guard - and the story of the documents and memos in Col. Killian's
file." Look out!
As for who provided the memos to
CBS, the finger is pointing closer and closer to this
guy. Sorry, Rush - it
wasn't Bob Shrum!
NET PRESSURE. Ross Kerber
has a terrific story in today's Boston Globe about how
bicyclists
have been using the Internet to get out the word that Kryptonite's
bike locks can easily be picked. They got action, too.
NEW IN THIS WEEK'S
PHOENIX. Those looking for the tide
to turn against George W.
Bush shouldn't put too much hope in Kitty Kelley's gossip-fest or in
CBS's dubious report.
posted at 10:42 AM |
2 comments
|
link
2 Comments:
Sorry, Dan, but it has NOT been established the Killian memos are fakes or forgeries. Knox said she didn't type them, but there is NO proof AT ALL those documents, which were TYPED and NOT word processed, as any secretary who ever used a typewriter could tell you, are fakes.
Knox also established the CONTENT was true, and face it, the right-wingers wanted to discredit the entire AWOL by using red herrings to detract from the substance.
You and your media cohorts fell sucker to a con perpetuated through Free Republic and other right-wing sites, by people who know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ABOUT TYPEWRITERS, and you and your media colleagues cannot admit you are wrong.
Rather's news organization is just about the only one with integrity. Forget the WP, NYT, CNN, Fox, ABC, and NBC. They are all jealous because CBS had a scoop.
Shame on you.
Susan,
You obviously are not a native Bostonian. Dan may be slightly to the left of Che Guevara (and something of an idealogue) but on his worst day he has more journalistic integrity than Rather and those others mentioned, combined.
PS-loved your profile. How does one become an unemployed teacher in the fastest growing town in America? On 2nd thought, I don't want to know..
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
