Open Letter to CBS, CBS Affiliates, and CBS Sponsors
by Rob Jones
Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2004
GUESS WHAT. IT'S NOT JUST THE GOP MACHINE THAT'S MAD
Fellas, I'm not a high level muckety-muck... just a lowly local Planning & Zoning Commissioner in a little town in Texas. Neither am I some big shot GOP donor, and I didn't get involved in local politics for the money.I got involved long ago because I was needed on some school board finance work when we were having a rough patch figuring out how to fund education needs in the face of growth. My current volunteer role is a natural progression from volunteering with the school board. Every hour of it takes me away from the job that feeds the family. We do this because somebody has to.
Years in local government have impressed on me this truth..."A reputation that takes a lifetime to build can be shattered by a lapse of integrity that only takes a second."
DAN RATHER AND THE SMOKING CAP PISTOL
Your top anchor attempted to smear a president weeks before an election. He did so with nothing more in support of his story than crudely forged documents, and those provided by a guy that's been bouncing all over the internet making rash statements and encouraging dirty tricks against Bush.This documentation was intended to dovetail with a self-serving "confession" provided by the number three fund raiser for the Campaign to Elect John Kerry, a lifelong Democrat politician proudly named as a Vice Chairman on Kerry's own website, whose statement on 60 Minutes contradicted sworn testimony, and whose own daughter says he told her a different story. He coincidentally happens to have a book in the works that would benefit tremendously from this sensational revelation.
I don't have to tell you this doesn't pass the smell test, much less the standards of proof CBS applied to those criticizing Kerry. The standards applied to the Swiftboat vets vs the standards applied in Rather's Texas Guard story are glaringly different. That bias was shown isn't some silly conspiracy theory that will only be believed by a few GOP loyalists... it is a matter of public record, and is not particularly hard to see.
ADDING INSULT TO INSULT
As if it wasn't enough to slander a president before an election with evidence that'd be insufficient in questioning the results of a dog show and researched with less energy than it takes to change socks... NOW we discover Rather's producer put the "unimpeachable" secret source in touch with the Kerry campaign?You've gotta be joking.
Think about it, if CBS were a 527, that would probably be considered coordination... i.e. - collusion. We're supposed to believe you aren't partisan when you can't meet the lofty ethics expected of the 527 groups?
There is no excuse.I don't care how "respected" you think Dan Rather is... neither he nor Mary Mapes bothered to ask Burkett's source if he actually supplied the docs to Burkett. How does this correspond to the networks insistence they strenuously vetted this information? How can they even claim they were duped, unless by their own desire to put a scalp on their belt?
Given...
CBS sudden inability to locate credible document examiners that support their story
Two of three "experts" CBS approached up front think the docs are forged and the one they used to support their predetermined outcome turned out to be the proud owner of mail-order credentials
Even HE doesn't agree he authenticated anything but the signature
CBS's remarkable failure to get their "trump card" witness to genuflect on cue
An Air Force doc contains Army slang and was provided by an Army reserve vet that hates Bush (wonder how long it'll take for them to piece together a theory on that?)
CBS noticeably failed to get comment from the guy that supposedly applied pressure (my, my... he sure does seem to be available for comment now.) Oops.
At least 4 out of 5 dead people surveyed don't have access to Microsoft Word.
... it is readily apparent that their fact checking didn't extend far beyond asking Burkett if the docs were real (if that far). Anyone with a brain and even a few people at CBS can tell what this means.
BUT IT COULD BE A CONSPIRACY!
For this to be a conspiracy against Rather (or even against Kerry) requires half the planet to be involved in the trick, including CBS and Dan Rather. [How diabolical of Rove to make CBS wait until they'd entrenched in support of the docs before checking to see if they were fakes.] Such a conspiracy is possible only to those equally open to the idea the docs were drafted by Elvis.There is a much simpler explanation. Dan & Co cared more about tipping an election than about getting their story right. Integrity was subjugated to personal politics and arrogant ambition.
That they did it at all was wrong. That it was done while at the same time Rather and CBS dismissively called everyone who turned out to be right names... "men in pajamas", "political partisans", "the professional rumor mill", "dupes", etc... is unforgivable.
I do not appreciate CBS trying to throw an election to the party of their choice, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why Mapes was employed five minutes after Lockhart admitted on national TV that she asked him to contact Burkett. I can't figure out why Rather is employed after encouraging the public to believe in fake docs and arrogantly insisting that he wouldn't have aired them if they weren't real.
Now I haven't been to journalism school, but shouldn't he have fact-checked them BEFORE insisting they were genuine and putting them on the air?
BIG DEAL... WHAT DO PEOPLE EXPECT US TO DO?
If you listen to the other newscasters, the obvious answer is that Dan loses a few points in credibility and must live with the shame of having screwed up just this once. Of course, as they tell it nobody really expects Dan to get fired or anything... after all it's not like he faked important travel stuff like Jayson Blair!NEWSFLASH: The reporters want to get a dig in at CBS... but they also know that one of the guys who went to the guillotine shortly after its invention was a fellow named Dr Joseph Guillotine. They'd rather not toss stones too hard.
The firm-but-forgiving reporters who chide Dan but say he meant well are not representative of the public. There's a large number of us that wouldn't trust Dan Rather if he told us the time, and we are angry about his arguably criminal and blatantly disingenuous actions. If you are a CBS sponsor or affiliate, that's A_Bad_Thing. There's too many of us for comfort.
As CBS affiliates, if you do nothing about Dan Rather and Mary Mapes, you have failed in your duty. You will cast a pall on your own integrity. I don't care who pays your bills, as journalists you owe the public the truth, and as CBS affiliates you have a burden to help right a wrong.
Firing Mapes is overdue, but won't suffice. Rather must_be_fired or CBS has zero integrity. I don't mean allowed to gracefully retire at some future time. I'm saying if you want to start to rebuild your soiled reputation, the first step is to have the equivalent of Donald Trump saying "Dan... You're FIRED" on national TV. He earned it publicly, and his inexcusably arrogant failure to apologize to our president has delivered your credibility to the wolves.
By the way... do you realize he's still roaming New York telling reporters the docs are authentic? Your credibility is hemorrhaging as you patiently stand by waiting for him to open the next vein.
I will join many others in insisting that sponsors avoid CBS if CBS avoids its obligation to fair journalistic standards. You just can't get away with this. Rather willfully perpetrated a fraud to influence an election.You must fire Rather. Alternatively, get used to seeing the term "ROFL" when you call yourselves "journalists".
Rob Jones
Keller TX
The author is just another voice in the wilderness who constantly preaches the doctrines of self-reliance and capitalism to people who no doubt wish him locked up where no guns or sharp objects are about.He lives in Texas with a zoo of horses, cats, dogs, and a goat that tears the heck out of his shabbily constructed barn, eats more than it should, and probably even votes for socialists when Rob isn't watching.
His profile is on his business website: http://www.texasbesthomes.com
