Accountability

2 October 2004 @ 21:16 | Posted in » Media, Politics

The issue with CBS running the National Guard story using forged documents is accountability. As bad as running the story was, the aftermath has been far worse. Excuses, non-denial denials, covering up, etc. have been the ploys used. Hence, CBS has taken a huge hit to its credibility. For me, they are no longer a reputable news organization. Apparently Friday FoxNews.com ran a story with fake quotes attributed to John Kerry. I didn’t get to see the story. But when one travels to the url that OxBlog points to, we can see how a reputable news organization deals with issues:

Earlier Friday, FOXNews.com posted an item purporting to contain quotations from Kerry. The item was based on a reporter's partial script that had been written in jest and should not have been posted or broadcast. We regret the error, which occurred because of fatigue and bad judgment, not malice.

It certainly sounds like there were some inappropriate things done in the pulled article. How it was posted needs to be investigated. But the difference between this story and Rathergate is that there is no cover up. Fox owned up to the mistake immediately (at least quickly). It stated it had used “bad judgment”. From the sound of it, it would have been difficult to take the story seriously, but that certainly does not excuse it. Somebody will need to pay for the mistake. Fortunately for Fox News, however, it can put this issue behind it once that is done for its credibility is intact.

Update
USA Today has a story about the Fox News story.

“Rallying supporters in Tampa Friday Kerry played up his performance in Thursday night’s debate in which many observers agreed the Massachusetts senator outperformed the president.”

“Didn’t my nails and cuticles look great? What a good debate!” Kerry said Friday.

“With the foreign-policy debate in the history books, Kerry hopes to keep the pressure on and the sense of traction going.”

“Aides say he will step up attacks on the president in the next few days, and pivot somewhat to the domestic agenda, with a focus on women and abortion rights.”

“It’s about the Supreme Court. Women should like me! I do manicures,” Kerry said.

The item also quoted Kerry as saying of himself and President Bush: “I’m metrosexual â€” he’s a cowboy.”

Yes, that is inappropriate. Yes, it is wrong. Yes, the Fox reporter, Carl Cameron, deserves to be disciplined.

According to the USA Today article, Fox News has said that Cameron was “reprimanded” for this story. I certainly would not have been upset if Fox News had fired this reporter. By all appearances, however, the report that was put up on the web site got by the editors in error and it seems unlikely anyone could have really taken it seriously. Reprimanding, suspending, withholding pay may all be outcomes short of termination that are acceptable. I will rely on Fox News to make the judgment of what is appropriate here. It still holds its credibility.