Monday, January 10, 2005

CBS Report is out but is missing a key recommendation

The CBS Panel's internal coverup report regarding Rathergate has now been released. Apparently it was merely caused by a mad rush to get the show to air, nothing to see here, now go watch reality tv ok?

However, in an attempt to prevent, or at least make such actions less blatant in the future, according to CBS News' Website The panel made a number of recommendations for changes, including:
Among the recommendations:

# Appoint a senior Standards and Practices Executive, reporting directly to the President of CBS News, who would review all investigative reporting, use of confidential sources and authentication of documents. Personnel should feel comfortable going to this person confidentially and without fear of reprisal, with questions or concerns about particular reports.

# Foster an atmosphere in which competitive pressure is not allowed to prompt airing of reports before all investigation and vetting is done.

# Allow senior management to know the names of confidential sources as well as all relevant background about the person needed to make news judgments.

# Appoint a separate team, led by someone not involved in the original reporting, to look into any news report that is challenged.

The article however, failed to mention the "hidden" recommendation not included in the publicly released report:

# Next time CBS should not outsource such an important process as document falsification. CBS should have an IBM Selectric on hand and do the forgeries in house, dammit!

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