Post by ghostision on Sept 26, 2004 15:26:47 GMT -5
If the title offends anyone, I'll change it, but I heard it on the radio, and I thought it was a cute pun.
Anyway, I'm somewhat surprised that no one's posted about this before, do you think CBS news airing those forged documents about Bush's military record was an example of blatant media bias, or just an honest mistake?
Right now, I'm not entirely sure what to think, since both sides make sense to me. On one hand, I've heard multiple references to "the liberal media" and my favorite talk show people have been saying for a while that Dan Rather was slightly more inclined towards the non-conservative side. I don't think they'd purposely forge documents and air them, just so that Bush won't get re-elected, but they might have just looked the other way on the inconsistencies, hoping no one else would notice them. They were so obviously forged though, that people started questioning it on the day right after it was aired. You have to wonder how experienced journalists could have missed that.
On the other hand, the people at CBS are human, they make mistakes. If the documents were real, it would have been a huge story, maybe even changing the course of the election. And of course, all the news people like to air the big stories first, so they can say on their commercials: "You saw it first, on CBS." Maybe they wanted to get it out before other stations got wind of it, and said it before they did, and in doing so, didn't check it as carefully as they could have.
I feel kinda sorry for CBS though, I don't know whose fault it is, but I can imagine how I'd feel in that situation, especially if it was just a mistake. Although, you'd think with all the forensics shows that they have (the CSI series and stuff) that they'd be better than anyone at this sort of thing.
So what do you think? Did they just make a mistake, or does CBS now stand for Complete BS?
Anyway, I'm somewhat surprised that no one's posted about this before, do you think CBS news airing those forged documents about Bush's military record was an example of blatant media bias, or just an honest mistake?
Right now, I'm not entirely sure what to think, since both sides make sense to me. On one hand, I've heard multiple references to "the liberal media" and my favorite talk show people have been saying for a while that Dan Rather was slightly more inclined towards the non-conservative side. I don't think they'd purposely forge documents and air them, just so that Bush won't get re-elected, but they might have just looked the other way on the inconsistencies, hoping no one else would notice them. They were so obviously forged though, that people started questioning it on the day right after it was aired. You have to wonder how experienced journalists could have missed that.
On the other hand, the people at CBS are human, they make mistakes. If the documents were real, it would have been a huge story, maybe even changing the course of the election. And of course, all the news people like to air the big stories first, so they can say on their commercials: "You saw it first, on CBS." Maybe they wanted to get it out before other stations got wind of it, and said it before they did, and in doing so, didn't check it as carefully as they could have.
I feel kinda sorry for CBS though, I don't know whose fault it is, but I can imagine how I'd feel in that situation, especially if it was just a mistake. Although, you'd think with all the forensics shows that they have (the CSI series and stuff) that they'd be better than anyone at this sort of thing.
So what do you think? Did they just make a mistake, or does CBS now stand for Complete BS?
