web counter Media Lies: This was....

Monday, January 10, 2005

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This was....

....a good start, but where's Dan Rather's walking papers?
The network fired Mary Mapes, producer of the report; Josh Howard, executive producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday" and his top deputy Mary Murphy; and senior vice president Betsy West.
Rathergate never would have happened without Dan's approval. Yet he gets off scott free.

UPDATE: This is what is called "hubris".
Les Moonves, co-president of CBS parent Viacom Inc., said he hopes the shakeup won't have a "chilling effect" on investigative journalism at CBS News, a sentiment also expressed by the independent panel in charge of investigating what went wrong with the "60 Minutes Wednesday" segment.

"By doing what needed to be done, as painful as some of these steps are, we hope to have moved decisively to set the record straight, and to turn this crisis into an opportunity to make CBS News stronger than it ever has been," Moonves said.
Let me see if I understand this correctly. Firing employees for lying could have a "chilling effect" on investigative journalism?

What are we to think of this? That "normal" investigative journalism requires lying or at least "fudging" the truth? How does sending a message that your journalists should not lie or fabricate evidence have a "chilling effect" on their investigations unless the expectation is that they will routinely lie?

Is it any wonder CBS struggles constantly with journalistic ethics? That bias is the norm there?

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