Awaiting the Oct. 16 Sony Pictures release of “Truth,” CBS Corp. has refused to sell advertising on their vast TV network and cable affiliates, exposing the dirty truth about print and broadcast journalism: That they’re not immune to politics. “Truth” stars Robert Redford as Dan Rather and Cate Blanchett as Mary Mapes, depicting the sordid tale, before former President George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection, of CBS News revealing forged documents of Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard [May 1968-Nov. 21, 1974]. Rather, who served as CBS Nightly News Anchor and Managing News Director, was fired by CBS President Leslie Mooves June 15, 2006, a-year-and-a-half after his producer Mary Mapes got the ax Jan. 10, 2005. Rather went public Sept. 8, 2004 with what he said were authenticated documents about Bush’s substandard service in the Guard.
CBS’s refusal to allow advertising for the Sony Pictures “Truth” shows they still harbor bitter feelings over how Rather’s release of forged documents damaged CBS News and the overall industry. At stake were how Rather, a highly respected broadcast journalist that inherited the CBS anchor desk from venerable Walter Cronkite in 1981, would allow his producer Mary Mapes to go public with forged documents about Bush’s Texas Air National Guard Service. Mapes reportedly received the “authentic” documents from former Texas Air National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, a known anti-Bush partisan. Mapes, who had broken the story on CBS “60 Minutes” of U.S. torture at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, pretended to engage in objective journalism She didn’t discuss with her CBS colleagues her close ties inside the presidential campaign of Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
Rather, Mapes and the entire CBS crew denied any partisan witch-hunt, rushing to publish damaging documents only two months before the Nov. 4, 2004 presidential election. Mapes maintained her innocence of having coordinated her story with members of Kerry’s inner circle. Kerry struggled through much of his campaign dealing with a conservative group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, attacking his Vietnam War record, injuries and decorations. Kerry was criticized by conservative groups for denouncing the Vietnam War after returning in 1970, essentially joining the anti-war movement. Angered by conservatives attempts to discredit Kerry’s war record, former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who served only one term Jan. 3, 1997 to Jan. 3, 2003, was a key member of Kerry’s inner circle. A decorated Vietnam War hero, having lost limbs in a grenade accident, Cleland was closely tied to Mapes.
Cleland maintained contact with Bush-hater Bill Burkett, who, somehow miraculously turned up “original documents” signed by Bush’s former commanding officer Lt. Col. Jerry Killian Aug. 18, 1973. Rather claims that his crew, led by Mapes, authenticated the forged document before putting them on the CBS Nightly News Sept. 8, 2004. Yet a cursory look at the documents showed they were printed in Times Roman, proportional spacing with a miniaturized superscript, not possible with an IBM Selectric typewriter in 1973. While there’s little doubt left about the forgery advanced by Rather on CBS Nightly News, the network reacted harshly to the soon-to-be-released Sony Pictures film, “Truth.” “It’s astounding how little truth there is in “Truth.,” said Gil Schwartz, a long-time chief spokesman for CBS Corp. and character in the movie,” continuing to blow smoke.
CBS News never formally apologized for the breach of journalist ethics in its newsroom, making mince meat of the First Amendment, allowing a towering broadcast journalism institution—led by Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite—to be corrupted by a producer’s involvement in Kerry’s campaign. While Mapes was appropriately fired Jan. 10, 2005, she’s never admitted to her connection to Cleland, who was easily duped by Burkett, only two months before Election Day. Kerry was running behind Bush after Labor Day 2004, needing a bombshell to reverse dimming prospects of unseating a popular incumbent. By the Fall of 2004, with the Iraq War only a year-and-a-half old, the country wasn’t ready to change horses. Corrupting the CBS Evening News with a bombshell delivered by Dan Rather was just what the Kerry campaign hoped would turn things around.
Sony Pictures “Truth” tries to get to the bottom of one of the most sordid assaults on the First Amendment since Watergate. Rather and Mapes rejected the CBS internal investigation by former Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh and AP President Louis Boccardi, linking Mapes’s to the Kerry campaign. Instead of a government agency exposed for corruption, the nation’s most prestigious news network was vitiated by Mapes’s relationship to Cleland and the Kerry campaign. While there’s less expectations today of uncorrupted network and cable news, Mapes’s ties to Cleland and the Kerry campaign were undeniable. Rather should have known better putting obvious forged documents on the CBS Nightly News. Rather and Mapes continue to insist their allegations about Bush’s service record were essentially true. They never apologized for corrupting the nation’s most respected news network.
