Word: cbs
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Bartlett says that, having heard rumors about a big exclusive in the works, he had his staff call CBS at 5:45 p.m. the day before the Sept. 8 broadcast. "They said, 'Oh, yes, we were going to call,'" Bartlett says. By 7 p.m., CBS staff members had read Bartlett the memos over the phone. He told them he wouldn't comment on the air until he had physically seen them. The next day, he was given three hours to look them over. He showed them to the President, who said he had no recollection of those specific documents. "There...
After the story began to unravel, CBS--and Rather in particular--spent a week aggressively defending it. Then Rather broadcast an interview with Marian Carr Knox, Killian's typist, who had by that point told several news outlets that she didn't think the memos were real. But Rather emphasized that Knox felt the memos nonetheless reflected Killian's opinion at the time. "Those who have criticized aspects of our story have never criticized the heart of it ... that George Bush received preferential treatment to get into the National Guard and, once accepted, failed to satisfy the requirements...
...Democratic fund-raiser in Texas, for which he later apologized. But those who know him well say he isn't driven by politics as much as his addiction to breaking news. "He takes to stories like he's still a kid and trying to prove himself," says a CBS News producer. "He loves it." Rather's contract expires in 2006, at which point he will be 75. Heyward denies any talk of asking Rather to leave early...
...that doesn't mean the rest of the staff at CBS News is happy. "We're getting whacked. And it's not fun," says the CBS News producer, who blames CBS executives, not Rather. "CBS seems to be caught flat-footed. They were slow to respond." Heyward says it's too soon to say if anything should have been done differently. But he concedes that in the current maelstrom of media, "very quickly, in this case almost instantly, you can find yourself in a debate that is raging on so many levels that it is difficult to keep track...
Ironically, one of the reasons CBS (and the White House) may not have vetted the memos with extra care is that they weren't all that shocking. "This wasn't the document that said, 'Here's the proof that George Bush was using cocaine,'" says Howard. "These were documents that incrementally added shading to the story. The idea that someone would forge a document that was so mild--that didn't send up a warning flag." (Then again, CBS was excited enough about the memos to hype them on its original show.) Mapes, who spent five years pursuing this story...