Wes Vernon
Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005

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  Yes, it’s true, as the Boccardi-Thornburgh document states, that 10 of the most fundamental rules of good journalism were trashed by the producers, and that Rather should have known better.

On the other hand, the report refuses to face up to the obvious question of what part rank political bias played in what has turned out to be a monumental embarrassment to CBS, with egregious damage to its credibility.

But the panel itself strains credulity when it concludes the discredited “60 Minutes II” report can be attributed primarily to “a myopic zeal to be the first news organization to broadcast what was believed to be a new story about President Bush’s TexANG [Texas Air National Guard service], and rigid and blind defense of the segment after it aired despite the indications of its shortcomings.”

All well and good as far as the report goes. But how can the panel dismiss the obvious bias factor? It is surreal, like the polite cocktail reception where everyone politely carries on high-toned conversations but no one dares to exhibit the rudeness of pointing out the dead mouse in the middle of the room.

All the signs of bias were there. For example, producer Mary Mapes, whose father has publicly lamented that his daughter went into the TV news business to advance her “feminist” view of the world. She actually attempted to coordinate her pursuit of the story with the Kerry campaign.

Mapes, one of the four producers fired because of the mess, claimed that the phony memos were real, even though she had found only one expert to vouch for a single signature. She was willing to put CBS News’ credibility on the line by relying on a known anti-Bush partisan, Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, as a primary source. It was he who produced the forged memos.

Add to that Rather’s history of anti-Republican, anti-conservative bias over the years, and you marvel at the panel’s refusal to deal with that dead mouse. The longtime CBS anchor has repeatedly clashed with the Bush family, going all the way back to his confrontational interview with the first President Bush back in 1988. That poisoned relationship alone should have prompted Rather to recuse himself from involvement in the story.

Instead, CBS apparently is giving him a soft landing by allowing the anchorman to “resign” from "CBS Evening News" but remain with CBS News for an unspecified period of time.

It is hard not to agree with Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell, who has called Mary Mapes a “scapegoat.” He notes that Rather and CBS News President Andrew Heyward were “complicit in this action.”

The question is why the Boccardi-Thornburgh panel steered clear of the liberal media bias question. Was it prompted by a concern that CBS would never accept that finding? It’s hard to say. Nothing is more firmly engraved as a holy writ with the mainstream media as the dogma that there is no such thing as liberal media bias. Perhaps the panel decided it would be better to draw the line at stirring up that hornet’s nest.

Too bad, because the problem will not go away. In fact, there is more to media bias than the observation by the organizer of a Maryland boycott of CBS that “CBS News is dominated from page boy to president with Manhattan liberals who are out of touch with mainstream America.”

CBS can fire Mapes and allow her fellow producers Josh Howard, Betsy West and Mary Murphy to “resign.” But that doesn’t get to the core problem.

Which is: These folks think they are the real America. They live in a world of their own where the prevailing attitude is “Doesn’t everybody think so?” Anyone who doesn’t see the world as they do is honestly deemed to be an oddball, if not downright evil. Never mind that millions of Americans clearly see the mainstream media bias which the establishment anchors and editors refuse to acknowledge. Four fired producers can be replaced by other Manhattan liberals.

There should be another panel created to raise the question as to what can be done to encourage more balance in the major networks and big city metropolitan dailies. Should an effort be made to hire more conservatives for the newsrooms? That is easier said than done, given that for a variety of reasons liberals are more easily attracted to the news business than are conservatives, who tend to be more attuned to opportunities in the business world (although Fox News has a mix of liberals and conservatives).

Still, it would be worth an honest effort to explore options as to how to bring about better balance. A little introspection would actually benefit the old established newsrooms. Lacking such an undertaking, the major news organizations can continue to trash the values and beliefs of Americans in the red states and wonder why Middle America continues to move to talk radio, the Internet and cable TV.

Wes Vernon, who writes for NewsMax.com, worked for 25 years for the CBS Radio Stations News Service. It was NOT a part of CBS News.

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