[Media-watch] Unaired Iraq story shows eyes on CBS - Porterville Recorder - 4/10/2004

[Julie-ann Davies]

http://www.portervillerecorder.com/articles/2004/10/02/ap/entertainment/d85g8b880.txt

4 October 2004
Unaired Iraq Story Shows Eyes on CBS

By DAVID BAUDER

NEW YORK - A postponed "60 Minutes" report about whether Iraq had nuclear 
capabilities has quickly become CBS's most famous shelved story since the 
1995 tobacco piece made famous in the movie "The Insider."

The Ed Bradley story questions a crucial piece of evidence used by the Bush 
administration to support the war. CBS decided it was inappropriate to air 
so close to the election.

 That prompted an e-mail campaign by supporters of Democrat John Kerry 
urging CBS to run the completed story. The liberal watchdog organization 
Fairness and Accuracy in Media has tried, so far unsuccessfully, to find and 
post a copy on the Internet. And the Web site Salon.com summarized Bradley's 
story after receiving a copy before CBS decided to postpone it.

All this shows the scrutiny facing CBS journalists since the network's 
discredited report last month on Bush's National Guard service. The famous 
CBS corporate symbol of an eye, it seems, is now turned on the network 
itself.

The Iraq story, scheduled to air on Sept. 8, was bumped for the infamous Dan 
Rather story that now appears to have been based on forged memos about the 
president's time in the National Guard.

"Yeah, I'm disappointed that it didn't run," Bradley said. "But I completely 
understand why CBS made the decision that it did."

Bradley's report focuses on supposedly forged documents that showed Iraq had 
purchased uranium from Niger. Salon said the story "contains little new 
information, but it is powerfully, coherently and credibly reported."

The decision to put it off troubles media critics who were watching CBS News 
for signs of timidity following the Guard controversy.

"The idea that you would withhold journalism because you think it would have 
an effect on the world runs contrary to the whole idea of what journalism 
should be," said Peter Hart, a FAIR analyst.

There is, however, a long tradition among media organizations about taking 
particular care with stories that might be politically damaging so close to 
an election, for fear of being accused of trying to sway results.

That was on CBS' mind in making the judgment call. The Bush administration 
also declined several requests to comment for the story, Bradley said. And 
if, as Salon indicates, the report broke little new ground, those factors 
would have likely put CBS squarely in the crosshairs of those who accuse its 
journalists of a liberal bias.

Then there was the supreme irony for CBS News: It was a report about forged 
documents.

"The idea of CBS accusing anyone of relying on forgeries is laughable at 
this point in time," said Matthew Sheffield, managing editor of the Web site 
Ratherbiased.com.

The story will eventually air, much like CBS's interview with Jeffrey Wigand 
did in "The Insider" case. CBS had been accused then of backing off from the 
Wigand interview because lawyers were nervous about offending the tobacco 
companies.

But CBS News President Andrew Heyward said the piece would run after the 
election. "It will run and it would be inappropriate for us to succumb to 
partisan pressure to air it earlier," he said.

This is the new world facing CBS News, besieged by both sides of a bitterly 
divided public that can make itself heard instantly through the Internet.

CBS used to be more insulated from such criticism because it had less 
competition and benefited from the public's high level of trust in the 
press, said Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University. That 
trust and exalted position have been chipped away.

The network's initial response to the Guard controversy indicated it was 
slow to realize that, he said.

"We're in somewhat uncharted waters here," Rosen said. "You have an attempt 
to discredit an already weakened news organization in an environment where 
things are already hotly politicized. You're going to see opportunistic 
attacks on CBS that really come out of a larger ideological agenda."

The heat on Dan Rather has subsided slightly during an independent panel's 
investigation into what went wrong with the Guard story. But there's still 
an active petition campaign going on to remove Rather's CBS colleague, Bob 
Schieffer, as a presidential debate moderator.

And an Internet flurry about a "CBS Evening News" story last week on the 
prospects of a military draft showed how quickly critics can mobilize.

A Philadelphia woman who expressed worry for her two grown sons was 
interviewed for a story about the possibility of reinstating a military 
draft. Ratherbiased.com (motto: "Watching CBS News so you don't have to") 
found evidence that the woman, although a Republican, was active in an 
anti-draft organization dominated by Democrats.

That association wasn't mentioned in the report, which critics believe was a 
sign of an anti-Bush bias.

"I find it amazing that more of the people who watch like hawks and attack 
us for things they don't agree with don't write or call when people who are 
supportive of the president or his policies are the predominant part of 
stories," said Jim Murphy, executive producer of the "CBS Evening News."

Said Heyward: "We certainly intend to continue to report on the campaign and 
all the issues without fear or favor. It will be up to the viewers and 
listeners and Internet users to judge whether we have met that standard. The 
fact that we're getting scrutinized is not going to stop us from pursuing 
that goal."

On the Net:

http://www.cbs.com

http://www.Ratherbiased.com

EDITOR'S NOTE _ David Bauder can be reached at dbauder(at)ap.org