Current issues affect our lives every single day and individuals do not
pay nearly enough attentions to the world!!!
Read on if you care:
Recently there have been some
current issues that have affected truth and objectivity in the media. Some of these events have raised doubts in
the public’s minds as to the accountability of the media. One very prevalent incident involves Dan
Rather and the CBS News. This incident
eventually resulted in the resignation of Dan Rather along with two other top
CBS journalists. On September 8th,
2004, “60 Minutes” aired a
report narrated by Dan Rather. In this report it was alleged that President
Bush received preferential treatment during his time in the Texas Air National
Guard. Even during the telecast members
of web longs began to speculate on the authenticity of the
documents used in
the report. The next day other major
news outlets repeated the story without verifying any of its contents. This same day Cybercast News Service becomes
the first outlet to report the possibility that the CBS documents were
forgeries. They quote typography
experts who say that the documents were produced on current word processing
equipment. On September 10th
CBS News stands by its documents along with Dan Rather even upon further
problems reported by Cybercast News Service.
Several days later the documents source from “60 Minutes” is identified
retired Texas National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett who had accused Bush and his
aides of tampering with military records.
Roy Blunt the House Majority Whip calls on CBS News to retract the
story. Then on September 20th
CBS News issued a statement admitting that they were misled and that corrective
actions would be taken. As a result of
all these events, on November 23rd, Dan Rather announced his
intention of stepping down as anchor on the CBS Evening News.