Blog 4 Part 1

Write a blog article discussing your opinions and feelings about the Dan Rather/CBS/National Guard scandal. Provide a brief synopsis of the events surrounding the scandal and discuss how the various actions by the people involved made you feel as a news consumer, a journalism student and a voter.



On September 8th, 2004 just weeks before the presidential election CBS News airs memos which suggest President Bush received special treatment when he was part of the Texas Air National Guard. Later CBS News and Dan Rather eventually apologize for airing memos. Dan Rather is quoted in saying that, CBS was misled by Bill Burkett and in later interview Rather questions Burkett on why he falsified information. Burkett admits to misleading CBS, but the question still remains whether the information in these memos is true.

As a journalism graduate student I question why Dan Rather’s producer Mary Mapes trusted the information provided by Mr. Burkett. CBS is criticized for not know Burkett’s original source, but it is hard for me to believe that Mapes, a “star” CBS producer would trust the opinion and information of just one man. Maybe Mapes couldn’t reveal Burkett’s original source for “ethical” reasons.

Who cares what President Bush did while he was in the Texas Air National Guard? I don’t think something that happened forty some odd years ago should have so many people in an out roar. Nor do I think it is the fault of Dan Rather. Although I have not been involved with news anchors on a national level, I have at the local level. Local anchors don’t write or research the stories they read on the news.

So, don’t tell me that Dan Rather had much more input on this, than being handed a script thirty minutes prior to this story airing. Yes, maybe Mary Mapes discussed the story she was working on with DanRather, but I highly doubt Dan Rather pondered the question of “Should I do research to make sure Mary’s story is real before I read it to the American people?” He doesn’t get paid the big bucks to do the research; he gets paid the big bucks to read someone else’s research.

This might sound bad coming from someone who hopes to have a career in broadcasting, but anchors aren’t journalist, they are merely readers of information.

Take a listen to CBS "Memogate" Stories on NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3928513