Three and a half months after former US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and retired Associated Press President & CEO Lou Boccardi (9/23/04 RBR #186) were recruited to investigate the use of apparently forged documents in a major news story, the report is in and four CBS News staffers have been fired. The report found plenty of blame to go around in preparation of a pre-election story that aired on "60 Minutes Wednesday," accusing President George W. Bush of shirking his duties to the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War era. But while anchor Dan Rather, who was the reporter for the segment, was criticized for poor judgment in the matter, but he will not face any punishment beyond his previous on-air apology.

While the panel was unable to determine "with absolute certainty" whether the four documents were forgeries or genuine, Thornburg and Boccardi found that there were serious questions raised about their authenticity, but that key CBS News staffers ignored those red flags and used them in the "60 Minutes Wednesday" segment which aired on September 8, 2004. The report found that the segment which aired, and CBS News stories which followed defending the broadcast, did not meet the two core principles of CBS News: accuracy and fairness.

You can read the entire 234-page report here.

Producer Mary Mapes drew the strongest criticism in the report. She was cited for failing to authenticate the source of the purported Air National Guard memos, misleading her bosses about the reliability of her sources and misrepresenting the analysis of four handwriting experts who were asked to examine the documents. Indeed, only one of the four experts said that one of the signatures appeared to be genuine, although all said they could not authenticate any photocopy. Mapes was also criticized for calling a top official of John Kerry's presidential campaign before the report aired, creating an appearance of political bias, although the panel said it found no evidence of actual bias against the Republican president.

In a statement following receipt of the panel's report, Viacom Co-President/COO Les Moonves called Mapes' actions "truly disquieting" and announced that the Emmy Award-winning producer had been fired. Three other CBS News staffers also got the axe, although they were "asked to resign" rather than being fired outright. John Howard, who had been made Executive Producer of "60 Minutes Wednesday" in June was faulted for failing to question Mapes and participating in rushing the story to air. Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy, whom Moonves called "Howard's right hand," was found to have deferred to Mapes instead of supervising her. And Betsy West, Senior Vice President of Prime Time, who was the member of CBS News management with "direct supervisory responsibility" for the broadcast, was faulted for not being sure that the material had been thoroughly vetted and for defending the segment even after its flaws became known.

With Howard out, Jeff Fager, Executive Producer of the Sunday "60 Minutes" will now also oversee "60 Minutes Wednesday," at least through the current season.

As for Rather, the panel determined that his other duties at CBS, including coverage of the Republican National Convention, kept him from having much involvement in the September 8th segment. But he was faulted for defending the report, even as its accuracy was called into question. Moonves, however, noted that Rather had already apologized on-air for his role in the incident and has set a date of march of this year to step down as the network's principal anchor. "After examining the report and thinking about its implications, we believe that any further action would note be appropriate," Moonves said of Rather.

Also keeping his paycheck is CBS news President Andrew Heyward, whose orders to carefully vet the material used in the segment were not carried out. Moonves said he and Heyward will now have to address questions about credibility at CBS News.

Senior Producer Esther Kartiganer, who was found to have failed in her responsibility to read scripts and unedited transcripts of interviews to make sure that interview segments were presented in context, was offered another job at CBS News in recognition of her 40+ years of service.

Only one CBS staffer comes out of this with any praise in the Moonves statement. Associate Producer Yvonne Miller, who was assigned to Mapes just six days before the story aired, did not, by her own admission, do a good job of authenticating the documents because she was pressed for time and didn't have experience in that particular task. But she raised questions about the validity of the story and the veracity of the documents, only to be ignored by her superiors. "She did, however, show good instincts in this matter, and if she had received even the smallest encouragement from her bosses, she might have made the difference," Moonves said. Miller will keep her job.

You can read the entire Moonves statement here.

As a result of the Thornburgh/Boccardi investigation, Moonves has ordered several new policies at CBS News. Among them, a requirement that whenever the validity of information in a segment faces a "significant challenge," a new team will be assigned to cover the story, not the people involved in the original. A new Standards Executive has been named - - Linda Mason, with the title of Senior Vice President, Standards and Special Projects. CBS News staffers are to be told that they can communicate with her on a confidential basis if they have concerns about the accuracy and fairness of any segment being prepared. Mason will report directly to Heyward. She will oversee investigative reports, reviewing the use of confidential sources and efforts to authenticate materials, plus giving approval to all hidden-camera investigations.

RBR observation:
A big black eye for CBS News, but pretty much what we had all been expecting since last fall's very public debacle. Mary Mapes takes the fall, as expected, along with a trio of bosses whom she apparently drove a steamroller over to get the story on the air without interference. Could she have been able to do that if she hadn't been teamed with Rather? We doubt it.