Who Can Really Say?

Edward R. Murrow, Where Are You?

Bill Hobbes says ABC is reporting an exclusive interview with Walter Staudt, the retired officer who, it is said in one of the challenged CBS documents, pressured Jerry Killian to "sugarcoat" Bush's record. Staudt says it never happened.

"I never pressured anybody about George Bush because I had no reason to," Staudt told ABC News in his first interview since the documents were made public.

Earlier this week CBS defended their broadcast by saying it was "accurate", even as they tried to dodge whether the documents were authentic, all in an effort to protect their source. But while all journalists strive to protect confidential sources, no one suggests this extends to sources that lie.

My guess is that when/if the source is revealed it will make CBS look all the worse, and so they will continue to stonewall by clinging to the underlying "truth" that Bush got preferential treatment and disobeyed an order to report for a physical even in the face of Staudt's interview. Imagine that -- CBS is caught in a squeeze of its own doing, unable to reveal the source and so unable to admit the 60 Minutes II story was fundamentally flawed, all to protect themselves from even more harsh criticism. Edward R. Murrow indeed.

[Linked to the Beltway Traffic Jam.]

Posted by Peter at September 17, 2004 06:02 PM