CBS Did Not Verify Documents
CBS News released some statements about the forged documents. In them, one document examiner (Matley) says he verified the signatures. The other (Pierce) concurs. CBS consulted two other experts, both of whom could not verify the signatures or documents. No other pre-broadcast verification is discussed in any of the statements, except on the actual content.
We already know that Matley has said it is not possible to verify a document from the signature if it is a photcopied document. And since the only verification done pre-broadcast was on the signatures, we are left with the conclusion that CBS simply did not verify these documents prior to broadcast.
But it gets worse. Matley's obsevations about the signatures are that there are some inconsistencies, but that they could be explained by stress, which is indicated by the content of the documents. But he cannot verify the content. He does not know -- by his own admission -- that the signature was originally applied to the document in question. His entire analysis that the signatures are authentic is based on the flawed assumptions.
In the statement, CBS writes: Before the report was broadcast, it was vetted and screened in accordance with CBS News standards by several veteran 60 MINUTES Wednesday senior producers and CBS News executives. That is the most damning criticism of the network I've yet seen.
We already know that Matley has said it is not possible to verify a document from the signature if it is a photcopied document. And since the only verification done pre-broadcast was on the signatures, we are left with the conclusion that CBS simply did not verify these documents prior to broadcast.
But it gets worse. Matley's obsevations about the signatures are that there are some inconsistencies, but that they could be explained by stress, which is indicated by the content of the documents. But he cannot verify the content. He does not know -- by his own admission -- that the signature was originally applied to the document in question. His entire analysis that the signatures are authentic is based on the flawed assumptions.
In the statement, CBS writes: Before the report was broadcast, it was vetted and screened in accordance with CBS News standards by several veteran 60 MINUTES Wednesday senior producers and CBS News executives. That is the most damning criticism of the network I've yet seen.
"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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