"Myopic Zeal"? Yeah, you could say that, although "arrogance" was pretty overwhelming too. Now, if only Dan Rather would announce a date for his departure. (UPDATE - it's March 9th - sorry)
I must say - it's rather sad that his career ended on this note.
(CBS) Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service.
The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with a “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.
The panel said a "myopic zeal" to be the first news organization to broadcast a groundbreaking story about Mr. Bush’s National Guard service was a key factor in explaining why CBS News had produced a story that was neither fair nor accurate and did not meet the organization’s internal standards.
UPDATE: the rightwing of the blogosphere is bitching about the fact that the report does not address the issue of what they all claim was political bias in Mapes and Rather's behavior. The report does an excellent and damning job in and of itself with the FACTS of the case. Trying to PROVE something as subjective as political bias would be too difficult, and as bad as this is, uneccessary.
