September 17, 2004

Jim Geraghty has a point

HOW THE BLOGS CAN BEAT RATHER

CBS News President Andrew Heyward and Dan Rather have made something of a "career suicide pact." Each one has much more to lose by admitting the memos are fake than from weathering the storm. They will ignore any criticism from here on out.

Critics of the report must focus on three alternative targets that are more vulnerable to public pressure: the local CBS affiliates, other CBS employees, and other media. Members of those groups right now are in a state similar to Rather and Heyward's — mildly criticizing Rather and Heyward, looking the other way, or shrugging their shoulders. That course of action is less painful than forcing CBS to make the hard choice about Rather and the fake memos. But a steady and intense campaign of criticism — one targeting them for not taking steps to demand a CBS admission that the network deliberately portrayed fake memos — could alter that balance. Inaction could become more painful than action.

Once the affiliates are demanding that Rather go, and the other employees at CBS are demanding that Rather go, and other media (like the editors of the Washington Post) are demanding that Rather go, Les Moonves, president of CBS, will conclude that the cost of keeping Rather outweighs the benefits of keeping him — and the ax will fall, probably for Heyward, Rather, and CBS producer Mary Mapes as well. The other CBS employees will retract the story and confirm the source.

Jim Geraghty is right. As of right now, even though the evidence is quite literally overwhelming, CBS News and Dan Rather have no intention of retracting their story, or apologizing for the libel they've committed. So it is pointless to put the pressure directly on two people who refuse to do the right thing. Therefore, we need to put pressure on the affiliates.

On my part, I plan to email each of the affiliates that have email addresses and ask them what their official position is regarding the CBS 60 Minutes II report on last week. Those that go on the record, I will publish their comments on the record. Those that wish to stay off the record, I will publish their comments off the record("An Affiliate" and no other identifying information). I hope I get a fair amount of on the record comments.

One thing we should be recognize is that the affiliates are, in a sense, both victims of, and unwilling accomplices to journalistic fraud. They are victims in that CBS used their stations to be used to broadcast a slanderous piece based on forgery, refused to retract it, and left affiliates twisting in the wind.

On the other hand, it also isn't appropriate for the local affiliates to not say or do anything. Forwarding the complaints of their viewers is nice, but, in my opinion, not good enough. They need to publicly take a stand. There are a number of ways they can do that. First, local stations often run editorials or commentary. They can use that time as a soapbox to pressure Black Rock. Second, most affiliates have their own news organizations. They can use their own news resources to report on the scandal themselves, and distance themselves from CBS News without engaging in an editorial comment(it is a big news story, after all). They can contact local forensic document experts on their own, or local typesetters(anyone with 20 years experience as a typesetter will be able to comment with some expertise on the topic). Either option I feel is appropriate. Silence, on the other hand, isn't appropriate.

This is going to be a first for me. Here, and back at the old homestead, most of my blogging was either fact checking the news or putting forth my own opinion. This will be the first time I engage in any form of direct journalism with interviews and such. I have no idea if I'll get any response. In any event, we'll see how this experiment works. As I receive responses, I'll publish them here.

Update: Well, I sent the email--cross your fingers and hope for the best.

Update: Here's a copy of the email:

As you already know by now, there has been considerable doubt about the veracity of the 60 Minutes II report published last week. Many of these doubts were first raised by bloggers such as little green footballs(http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/), Powerline(http://powerlineblog.com/), and dozens of others, large and small. I am also a blogger(http://www.motgs.com/), and am asking if you would like to give me your reaction to or opinion of the allegations, either on or off the record, and what actions your affiliate has taken or plans to take in response(again, either on or off the record).

I am doing this in keeping with the blog post of Jim Geraghty of National Review(http://www.nationalreview.com/kerry/kerry200409171337.asp). Personally, I believe that the affiliates are victims of mistake/fraud that was committed. I say mistake/fraud because while the initial 60 minutes II report was a mistake, the repeated assertions that the memos are truthful crosses the line into fraud, because all evidence has been that the memos are forged.

When responding, please note at the top whether you are commenting on or off the record.

Thank you all in advance for your cooperation and assistance.

John Bono

Posted by John Bono at September 17, 2004 11:47 PM| Link Cosmos

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I've managed to install the newest version of MT-blacklist, so public commenting is again enabled. If I get spammed heavily, I'll reinstate registration via TypeKey.

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