Unravelled
Dan Rather is attacking his attackers, saying the criticisms of potential forgery include "many who are partisan political operatives" and that "the public is smart enough to see from whom some of this criticism is coming and draw judgments about what the motivations are." He said the questions he asked -- some of which are supported only by these documents -- are not being answered, but instead the focus is on the documents that "were part of the support of the story."
The problem is that his story's lead was all about the documents: they were the main focus of his story. The problem is that the most substantive criticism is coming from family members and nonpartisan experts, many of whom were called in by fellow mainstream news agencies: AP, ABC, Washington Post. The problem is that the evidence against the documentary evidence against the memos is far greater than the evidence for it (heck, the only typographic evidence they even attempted to debunk was incorrect or missed the mark, and their only named expert is a handwriting expert, not a typography expert; and they still have not said whether they even have originals, and they have not released the better copies they claim to possess).
The problem is that CBS is now in the position of making a difficult case for something instead of trying to get to the truth of it. The problem is that CBS is rapidly losing credibility. The problem is that Dan Rather is unravelling and that his career may be in jeopardy.
(Note: this, like the previous JE, is under the News topic, not Politics. Please respect that and stay on topic. :-)
The problem is that his story's lead was all about the documents: they were the main focus of his story. The problem is that the most substantive criticism is coming from family members and nonpartisan experts, many of whom were called in by fellow mainstream news agencies: AP, ABC, Washington Post. The problem is that the evidence against the documentary evidence against the memos is far greater than the evidence for it (heck, the only typographic evidence they even attempted to debunk was incorrect or missed the mark, and their only named expert is a handwriting expert, not a typography expert; and they still have not said whether they even have originals, and they have not released the better copies they claim to possess).
The problem is that CBS is now in the position of making a difficult case for something instead of trying to get to the truth of it. The problem is that CBS is rapidly losing credibility. The problem is that Dan Rather is unravelling and that his career may be in jeopardy.
(Note: this, like the previous JE, is under the News topic, not Politics. Please respect that and stay on topic. :-)
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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