Lessons Learned From Rathergate

Two weeks from today, on March 9, Dan Rather will sign off from CBS Evening News for the very last time. Even a disinterested observer would have to conclude that Rather's departure has been hastened by his culpability in the blatant attempt by CBS to perpetrate a fraud on the American public and influence the outcome of a presidential election. Rather's goodbye will be a headline news event and, presumably, it will close the book, drop the curtain, and tie up the last loose end of the network's self-inflicted shame -- Rathergate. Right?

NO! Not right, not even close to right. If anything, the same questions beg answers now as before because they haven't been answered. AND, there are new questions. Let's look at a few.

:: Who created the original fraudulent documents regarding Lt. Bush's Air National Guard service?

:: Why has no one actually lost a job even though the 'independent panel' directed CBS to get rid of several producers?

:: Why has 'forget-the-rules' Democrat Bill Burkett not been investigated for possession of forged federal documents?

That first question is the big ugly dumpling. To date, with all the investigations and international media interest and hand-wringing and furrowed brows and seminars on journalistic integrity, that question goes unanswered. Not surprisingly, CBS is acutely aware of the volatility of the unanswered questions and has officially muzzled Dan Rather. When he vacates the anchor chair on March 9, "he will be limited to seven controlled interviews with the press to avoid questions about the scandal." So, from a symbolic and practical perspective, March 9 is the day that Rathergate effectively will be swept cleanly under the carpet.

All that said, it's probably not inappropriate to outline some of the most salient lessons learned from Rathergate.

It's perfectly acceptable to be a journalist and a political operative at the same time as long as you don't admit to the latter at any time.

In a media organization, no one in a position higher than producer or assistant producer will ever be fingered in an investigation even though everyone knows that these people never act without permission.

If a producer is fingered in an investigation, there's a high probability that nothing negative will result.

With impunity, blind-as-a-bat grassroots party fanatics can author Shakespearean schemes with props to publicly attack political opponents.

There are other lessons, of course. In particular, the little stuff like don't use a 1980s computer to forge text supposedly written on a 1970s typewriter and don't underestimate the collective knowledge and experience of the blogosphere.

Personally, I'd like to see some sort of corrective measures actually implemented. As it is now, there's no reason to believe that CBS won't plot to fraudulently influence a future election.

[Update 2/28/05] Hold the phone. It appears that as of 2/25 three of the four CBS staffers designated for termination have left. According to this report,

CBS confirmed Sunday that Betsy West, a CBS News vice president, and Mary Murphy, a senior producer on 60 Minutes, have left the network. Josh Howard, the executive producer of 60 Minutes Wednesday whose resignation CBS also has demanded, has refused to leave.

Rather's producer, Mary Mapes, was let go previously.

Interestingly, it's also reported that Rather is puzzled that the media didn't play up the fact that the independent panel found no evidence of political bias as was contended by critics. Well, Dan, give it some thought. In the past week, Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace admitted that they don't watch your broadcasts and no one in the media wants to defend that you're not politically biased. There must be a reason.