Tuesday, February 15, 2005

CBS Woes Continue

According to Drudge,
THE NEW YORK OBSERVER will report tomorrow: 'Former 60 Minutes Wednesday executive editor Josh Howard has told colleagues that before he resigns, the 23-year CBS News veteran will demand that the network retract remarks by CBS president Leslie Moonves, correct its official story line and ultimately clear his name'...

In the event of a lawsuit, Mr. Howard has told associates that he would like to see Moonves put under oath to talk about his own roles in the network's stubborn, hapless defense of the flawed segment on President Bush's National Guard service.

Howard has also indicated to colleagues that he would subpoena specific CBS documents, including the e-mails of top executives.

We've known for a while that CBS News is in serious trouble because three of the individuals named were not stepping down willingly, nor would they go quietly. Any fight would be public and involve far more people than CBS and its investigation sought to reveal.

If Howard is going to take the fight public, you can be sure that he's going to take down as many others as possible to restore his name (though his role is minor compared to that of Rather, Mapes and Heyward. Rather simply got removed from the newsdesk while retaining his position at 60 Minutes II, which is incidentally where Rather released the bogus documents in the first place. Heyward green lighted the mess, and Mapes was the primary mover and shaker to get the story done. She's the only person to actually be fired in all this.

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