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Volume 27, Issue 10, october 14, 2004

Opinion

Does Rather really matter?

mugHeather Wahle
Columnist

An outcry has recently erupted concerning CBS’s recent misleading newscast on “60 Minutes.”

The segment was aired with anchor Dan Rather reporting on President Bush’s military record. Mr. Rather is an established part of CBS and his poor judgment in airing a falsified report is in question. Many feel that Rather’s resignation is necessary.

The incident is being referred to as “Memogate.” Rather covered a story that used a memo from a former supervisor of Bush during his service with the Texas National Guard. After the program aired, the memo was analyzed by experts, who claim that the document is likely to have been falsified, as the font and typeset used is not consistent for the time it was allegedly produced. The choice of Rather and CBS using the document and not investigating the story entirely is being scrutinized.

Until recently, CBS defended the “60 Minutes” story done by Rather, which ran on Sept. 8, 2004. It only took a few days for the television network to change their stance.

The network recently released a statement apologizing for using the story without validating the sources used.

Rather also issued an apology, stating that if he had know of all the discrepancies involved with the memo it would have never run.

Public apologies don’t seem to satisfy the general public. The reliability of CBS as a news source appears to be damaged, as well as Mr. Rather’s credibility as an anchor.

Would a resignation from Rather, or even a series of terminations of those involved in the story restore the objectivity of mainstream journalism? It does not seem likely.

The media is expected to uphold their responsibility to the public to fact-check and provide un-falsified documents in reports.

When a company airs a program it should accept responsibility that the story is just as much a representation of the news source as the anchor.

“60 Minutes” has been on the air for 36 years, and has earned 75 Emmy Awards. After all the stories this program has aired and the level of investigative reporting used, they should have known how to back up their research. However, the questionable documents Rather used are not enough to rule out the network as being entirely credible. All of the major American networks have aired their share of slant.

How objective has CBS been in the past? Expand this further and examine the objectivity of ABC, NBC, and Fox. When do you take one newscast—and the lack of good judgment in its airing particular programming—and account that for the validity of the station as a whole?

For those of you who think one news source is enough to get a grasp of current events, think again. This recent event should reaffirm the need to seek out multiple broadcasts in order to obtain a well-rounded, unbiased and generally well-informed scope of the news.