This page last updated: Tue., Jan. 18, 2005, 4:26:47 AM EST

January 18, 2005
 
BAYHAM ON THE BAYOU: The ‘CBS 5’ Get Their Comeuppance
 
by Mike Bayham
Huntington News Network Columnist
 
Louisiana (HNN) — Four CBS employees were forced to walk the plank in the aftermath of the independent investigation stemming from the erroneous Air National Guard story that could very well have made President George W. Bush a one-termer.
 
The face of the story, Dan Rather, will also be departing the network, though the veteran anchor was afforded a more honorable exit by having announced his retirement before the release of the investigation's findings.  Contrary to what Rather has to say about the timing of his separation from CBS, his retirement was no doubt hastened by the now infamous miniature "th".
 
The report leveled charges of unprofessional conduct against CBS News in the construction and later defense of documents that had accused friends of the Bush family for exerting pressure on military officers to "enhance" George W. Bush's reports while he served in the Texas Air National Guard.
 
In what could be described as a "Yorktown" experience for the networks, the tenuous story was ripped to shreds by internet bloggers, in which part-time "media militia" gave the controversial papers a more thorough once over than the professionals.
 
Though the report used scathing language to describe the news division's handling of the story, it failed to state for the record what is obvious for everyone else: the presence of an institutional liberal bias in the media.
 
What CBS honcho Les Moonves called "myopic zeal" in the wake of the scandal would be more appropriately labeled journalistic partisanship.
 
The closest the report comes to connecting the dots is its citation of an apparent "conflict of interest" when producer Mary Mapes offered to put Kerry staffer Joe Lockhart in touch with the source of the papers, retired Texas National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett.  Otherwise, the panel's solutions primarily pertained to establishing new verification mechanisms, summarily dismissing the matter of media bias.
 
That the media at times fails to tell the truth is only half the problem, as it is possible to be simultaneously partisan and honest.  The real issue is their failure to tell the whole truth.
 
The most glaring instance that comes to mind from the 2004 presidential election is how every story concerning the battleground state of Ohio was prefaced with the dour news of the state's loss of manufacturing jobs during the Bush Administration.  It really doesn't need to be said that the media's diligence fell short in promulgating rosier economic news in other swing states.
 
The action taken by the investigating panel shouldn't be surprising.  With their hand caught in the cookie jar twice (once for the bogus story and another for the network's emphatic denials in the face of reality), CBS was compelled to make an example of its sincerity through the notable terminations.
 
A full admission of the real problem, that being an industry dominated by individuals of a decidedly liberal persuasion, would have been better though I can expect that confession to be made about the same time the environmentally conscious Teresa Heinz Kerry trades her SUV for a cozy Geo.
 
In lieu of the media coming clean, conservatives will have to settle for a token show of self-improvement in the form of Abu Ghraib story producer Mary Mapes being handed her walking papers.  But you can bet her replacement will share for world a view, thus the mentality endures with only the names changing.
 
Similar mistakes will happen in the future not solely because of human error, but because a preponderance of people possessed with "myopic zeal" when reporting on Republicans will let the "true believer" inside of them go unchecked.
 
The unverified National Guard story aired not because it seemed true, but because those who put it together wanted it to be true.  Even as the ship was halfway submerged, Rather was furiously bailing out the rushing water of suspicion over the papers' credibility.
 
Forget the unsubstantiated evidence, they're could be a real story here, Rather pleaded.  He was right, though it had nothing to do with George W. Bush's military service.
 
The CBS team desperately wanted to be the next Woodward and Bernstein by bagging a sitting president.  Instead the "CBS 5" has the ignoble honor of being cast as a consortium of 21st Century Clifford Irvings.

NFL Picks: The Falcons are a papier mache team that are about to have their giblets beaten out by the Eagles.  Vick might be superman, but Philly's defense is going to be his kryptonite.  In an era of curse reversing, give the points to Atlanta with Philadelphia covering.
 
The unstoppable Steelers were almost bounced out by the Rodney Dangerfield of AFC teams while the Pats stopped the Manning machine.  Even without a doctored field, go with New England.
 
Mike Bayham is author of Right From The Bayou: The Opinions of a Conservative Cajun, which is available at iUniverse.com.

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