Salon: The Cowardly Broadcasting System

[kskiska]

CBS cravenly killed a "60 Minutes" segment about Bush's deceptive case for invading Iraq. What did it contain that was too much for voters to see?

By relying on documents that could not be absolutely authenticated from a blind source to make the otherwise irrefutable case that George W. Bush shirked his National Guard duties in the early 1970s, CBS anchor Dan Rather dealt the credibility of journalism a "body blow," according to Washington Post ombudsman Michael Getler. But just how damaging was that blow?

One measure of the debacle is a "60 Minutes Wednesday" segment that millions of viewers now will now not see: a hard-hitting report making a powerful case that in trying to build support for the Iraq war, the Bush administration either knowingly deceived the American people about Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities or was grossly credulous. CBS news president Andrew Heyward spiked the story this week, saying it would be "inappropriate" during the election campaign.

The importance that CBS placed on the report was evident by its unusual length: It was slated to run a full half hour, double the usual 15 minutes of a single segment. Although months of reporting went into the production, CBS abruptly decided that it would be "inappropriate to air the report so close to the presidential election," in the words of a statement that network spokeswoman Kelli Edwards gave the New York Times.

Salon was given the videotape by CBS News on the condition that we report on it only shortly before it was to air. But after the network effectively spiked its own story (which was reported by Newsweek online and by the New York Times), we sent an e-mail late last week to CBS stating that we believed that the embargo no longer applied. We received no reply and therefore feel free to report.

more…
http://salon.com/news/feature/2004/09/29/cbs_wmd/index.html

[ochazuke]

1. How much lower can one's jaw drop?

Not appropriate? Like it wouldn't be appropriate to tell someone that WorldCom or Enron were phony companies so soon before they bought the stock. Like it would be appropriate to warn someone that that glass of liquid they are about to drink is a deadly poison because, well he's about to drink it.

Hey, Salon, slip that segment out to some kid with a DVD burner and let's see what happens.

[Nite Owl]

2. If this were the other way,

if it were a story about Kerry that they refused to air, the right wingers would be up in arms. They would make that the story and it would be being talked about on every news program until they were embarassed into airing it. I've already written them for what good that will do but our Dems have to bring it up when they are on for interviews. Make it an issue to show the bias of the right wing control of the news we are 'allowed' to hear.