Readers may be interested in a longish piece by Ernest Miller. Miller is a Fellow at Yale University's Information Society Project. A recent post at his blog is probably the most helpful summation thus far of the entire episode. It's entitled Incompetant or Unethical? The Story of CBS News' Response to Criticism Over the Killian Memos. RatherGate will be studied for years to come in journalism schools and by public relations firms. Miller's story may be the place to start.
If you want to see a graphic comparing the forged Killian documents with authentic documents from that time and place, click here. If you are still unconvinced that the forgeries were created on MS Word, you must click here and here. And if you're interested in a graphic displaying the web of connections involved in RatherGate, try this.
A final note for now: Many of us have been quite critical of the MSM (mainstream media). But hats must go off to the fine work of the Washington Post--especially Howard Kurtz and Michael Dobbs. They have pursued this story with objectivity, fairness, and seriousness. Sunday's 4-page story starts on A1. It's well worth the read: In Rush to Air, CBS Quashed Memo Worries. A key quote:
An examination of the process that led to the broadcast, based on interviews with the participants and more than 20 independent analysts, shows that CBS rushed the story onto the air while ignoring the advice of its own outside experts, and used as corroborating witnesses people who had no firsthand knowledge of the documents
Ouch. More to come....
