News at the Speed of Light

One of my all time respected journalists Dan Rather is in the hot seat over the possibility documents that he aired on 60 minutes relating to Bush's National Guard service were fabricated. Sites that have been following this story include the Drudge who reported that Rather and CBS News' reputations are on the line.

The fiasco centers around superscripts that Microsoft Word automatically inserts, which were found on the memos obtained by CBS. In simple english that means the alleged forgery was computer-generated on documents that were supposedly created before the technology even existed.

So far, Rather is reported to be holding steadfast to his belief the docs are genuine, and CBS is apparently standing behind him. Nevertheless, undisclosed sources who asked not to be named, have described the CBS NEWS anchor and 60 MINUTES as being privately "shell-shocked" by the increasing likelihood that the documents in question were fraudulent.

"The reputation and integrity of the entire news division is at stake, if we are in error, it will be corrected," a top CBS source explained late Thursday. At this time however, CBS News states with absolute certainty that the ability to produce the "th" superscript mentioned in reports about the documents did exist on typewriters as early as 1968, and in fact is in President Bush's official military records released by the White House.

Blog Bloke's take on this is simple. The story was a non-story and only serves to denigrate the election into a mud-slinging campaign that should be beneath the dignity of all sides. It seems such a silly waste to ruin reputations over. The Bloke recommends growing up boys and girls and stick to the real issues, rather (no pun intended) than selling the news.