Media Watchdog Demands Answers From CBS
By: Steve Sawyer | Source: CNSNews.com
September 15, 2004 9:20AM EST

By Media Research Center
CNSNews.com Information Services
September 15, 2004

(Editor's note: The following letter has been sent to CBS News President Andrew Heyward by L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Media Research Center, the parent organization of CNSNews.com.)

Mr. Andrew Heyward
President
CBS News
524 West 57th Street
New York, NY 10019

Dear Mr. Heyward:

The evidence continues to pour in proving that the CBS News' 60 Minutes program regarding President Bush's National Guard service was based on documents declared fraudulent by innumerable independent experts whose comments have been reported throughout mainstream print and broadcast media. Even CBS's own "expert" now publicly refuses to stand by the documents.

Why CBS didn't acknowledge the hoax when it should have - last Friday - is dumbfounding. Why Dan Rather continues to defend as credible this utterly discredited character assassination attempt on the President is inexcusable.

The gravity of these events is devastating for your network. Your network simply cannot be believed any longer. There are two steps CBS must take to remedy this disaster, steps CBS must take if it wants to regain the trust of the American public:

(1) Launch a full and independent investigation into this matter with special emphasis placed on revealing the identities of those individuals responsible for perpetrating this heinous act. This investigation also must uncover who at CBS was duped by this, who at CBS was negligent in the exercise of due diligence investigating these claims, and why.

(2) CBS must immediately suspend anchor Dan Rather, producer Mary Mapes and all other staff involved in this scandal from covering any political news until the investigation is complete and a full public accounting has been given, at which point CBS will have some decisions it will need to make.

To continue to defend these fraudulent documents as authentic only continues to damage the integrity and credibility of everyone at CBS News. CBS has long trumpeted as supreme the concept of the "people's right to know." Now, more than ever, the people have a right to know what happened at CBS.

Sincerely,

L. Brent Bozell III
Founder and President
Media Research Center

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