Marlowe's Shade

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

CBS offers new "experts", Rather's colleagues are getting nervous

Last night, CBS did not present any of the other experts who originally helped it authenticate the documents, beyond mentioning Mr. Matley,[ed. note: see previous post] who was interviewed on the Friday broadcast. Instead it featured computer and typewriter specialists who had called or posted defenses of CBS on Internet blogs.

With any luck they'll trot out "Hunter" from Daily Kos

Even inside CBS News there was deepening concern. Some of Mr. Rather's colleagues said in interviews that they were becoming increasingly anxious for him to silence the critics by proving the documents' validity and as new questions about their origin arose. Most declined to be quoted by name...
One network correspondent said, "I've talked to colleagues who would love to see more of a defense."
This person described the state of the staff as "deep concern, I'd say not panic - we all want it to be right." This person, echoing others, said that Mr. Rather's resoluteness in addressing the charges on the air was allaying some of the concern. "Dan really put himself on the line and I can't imagine him knowingly defending something he knew not to be the case."
A longtime correspondent said flatly, "I'm distressed."


If the best response that CBS has to the forgery charges is a tech guy and a typewriter repairman, I'd be distressed too.

Update - Richard Katz is wrong
papijoe 9:35 AM
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