NEW YORK, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- CBS News announced Monday it had fired four employees for producing a flawed report on President George Bush's military record.
An independent panel said a "myopic zeal" to be the first news organization to broadcast a groundbreaking story about Bush's National Guard service was a key factor in explaining why CBS News had produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet the organization's internal standards.
Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs, "60 Minutes Wednesday" Executive Producer Josh Howard and his deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated. News anchor Dan Rather, is also stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News.
The story, which aired Sept. 8, relied on four documents allegedly written by one of Bush's Texas Air National Guard commanders in the early 1970s.
The panel identified 10 serious defects in the preparation and reporting of the story that included failure to obtain authentication of the documents or to investigate the controversial background of the source of the purported documents, retired Texas National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett.
