Report Condemns CBS News; 4 Lose Jobs
NEW YORK — CBS News dismissed four staffers and appointed a new standards executive Monday after an independent panel issued an exhaustive and highly critical report on how questionable documents -- and a frenzied rush to trump competitors -- led the network to air a high-stakes story about President Bush's military service that turned into a journalistic and political debacle.
Now the venerable news division, home of pioneering broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and for years the crown jewel of the "Tiffany Network," must repair the damage as it seeks to restore its credibility under difficult circumstances: Its prime-time newscast ranks third among the big three networks. It remains beset by conservative critics who say the organization is driven by liberal bias.
And although he was not among those forced out, anchor Dan Rather, who presented the controversial "60 Minutes Wednesday" piece, retires in March, leaving the network in the hunt for a successor to be its new public face.
Aired on Sept. 8 in the midst of a tight presidential race, the segment raised serious allegations about Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
The 224-page report, scathing in its summation, said CBS' handling of the story was flawed at almost every turn -- in the reporting that began in haste in late August, the internal process for reviewing the authenticity of documents, and even afterward, when questions were raised by Web loggers and journalists.
CBS News' problems with the story, the panel said, were the result of "a myopic zeal" to be first with the story, causing the network to fall short of its own core principles of accuracy and fairness. Although the report did not find evidence of political bias, it sharply criticized a producer for contacting the John F. Kerry campaign before the segment aired.
The panel, led by former Atty. Gen. Richard L. Thornburgh and former Associated Press executive Louis D. Boccardi, lambasted the network for "considerable and fundamental deficiencies" in preparing and later defending the story.
The story, titled "For the Record," alleged that Bush had received favorable treatment during his service during the Vietnam War era.
