Salon's Scott Rosenberg
sums up the Dan Rather's relying on
fake memos about President Bush's National Guard record two ways. As a reporting error, "CBS seems to
have had the essence of the story right, but allowed itself to get
duped by some bad evidence..." (The New York Times, for instance, offered its Portrait
of George Bush in '72, without relying on those
memos.) But having "the essence" right wasn't enough to make up for CBS's error, Rosenberg continues:
What really hurts, for CBS and the rest of the networks' news
operations, is that, at this late date in media history, trust is the only
advantage the broadcast networks can claim. They no longer deliver the
news faster than rivals, they certainly don't deliver it in more depth
or from more viewpoints or with more style.
Their only remaining edge
has been a sort of generic, fossilized authority. More people get their news from us than through any other channel, the broadcasters' unspoken claim went. That makes us the arbiters of the news. And we take that responsibility seriously -- you can count on us to get things right. [...from Salon]
Other Voices
Columbia Journalism Review offers The Longer View
of the dangers of a "scoop mentality," along with a few newsroom classic words of wisdom, including "even if your
mother tells you she loves you, check it out," "If someone hands
you a 'gift' story, unwrap it very carefully," and "If your source clearly
has an ax to grind, trace the story back to his source."
USA Today looks at the role
of weblogs in uncovering the CBS mess, while USA Today and the Los Angeles Times
are among those looking at the role of a CBS 60 Minutes producer. Finally,
The New York Observer's Bruce Feirstein, blending cynicism with a bit of Jonathan Swift, advises Rather to "Give up the ghost, stop
ridin[base '] that dead horse. Come out of the closet, drop this objectivity
thing... Turn CBS into the
antidote to Fox News."
11:54:11 AM 
|
|
