Advertisement

How CBS’ Big Story Fell Apart

Share
Times Staff Writers

Dan Rather was on the run, chasing big stories from New York to Florida to Texas and back to CBS headquarters in Manhattan. In less than a week: The Republican National Convention. A deadly hurricane. An interview for a blockbuster CBS investigation. Former President Clinton’s open-heart surgery.

Exhausted and stretched to the limit, the veteran anchorman didn’t find time that week to learn much about a news source named Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, he would later explain.

Rather, 73, recalled somewhat vaguely that he had heard from his star producer that Burkett was a “straight-talking West Texan” with a reputation as a “truth teller.” Had he turned to Google, though, the CBS anchorman would have found stories painting Burkett as something quite different: a highly controversial and disgruntled retired military man who had led the media astray before.

Advertisement

But Rather relied on the research of that producer, Mary Mapes, as both put their trust in Burkett. That fateful convergence helped produce a terribly flawed report that said President Bush shirked his military duty, a story that would backfire and cost Mapes and three others at CBS their jobs, while tarnishing Rather’s storied career.

The segment, titled “For the Record,” had another ironic consequence: It aided President Bush. The roar of condemnation aroused by CBS’ use of unverified documents drowned out other news accounts that exposed Bush’s spotty service as a young pilot.

The independent panel that reviewed production of the story for CBS released a report last week hammering the network and particularly Mapes. It said that carelessness and “myopic zeal” had tainted the integrity of what was once considered the nation’s top broadcast news division.

How did it happen?

In a series of interviews and in the 224 pages of the independent panel’s report, a portrait emerges of what is an inherently messy business -- a television news operation “crashing” to quickly land a big story. The description of breathless news- hounds on the hunt might have been drawn from any of the nation’s big newsrooms, were it not for a series of troubling patterns that ultimately crippled the CBS production, including: a glaring inattention to alternative points of view; the pronounced detachment of top news managers; and, especially, an extreme reliance on just one trusted individual to get the story right.

A Trusted Producer

By the time CBS aired its account on Sept. 8 of Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard, Mary Mapes had established herself as a one of the top producers at CBS News.

Raised on a strawberry farm in rural western Washington, she had begun working in television in Seattle without having finished her communications and political science studies at the University of Washington.

Advertisement

Like other front-line producers, Mapes thrived by perfecting myriad skills -- buttonholing sources for information, conducting interviews, writing scripts and assembling graphics and videotape.

After joining CBS, she traveled widely in pursuit of stories. She narrowly avoided jail time in 1999, when she declined a judge’s order to release unbroadcast portions of an interview with a murder suspect. That same year, she scored a major coup when she helped arrange the first post-impeachment interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mapes, now 48, agreed to take a producing spot in 1999 when CBS spun off a new Wednesday edition of the “60 Minutes” magazine that had been a Sunday powerhouse for years. But she insisted on continuing to live in Dallas, where her husband, Mark Wrolstad, is a Dallas Morning News reporter. Her superiors liked her so much that they did not force her to move to New York.

Colleagues and friends used such words as “intense,” “driven” and “high-octane” to describe Mapes, whose salary was pegged at $200,000 to $300,000 by those familiar with the industry. “She radiates intensity about journalism,” said Steve McGonigle, a Dallas Morning News reporter. “She is a very professional and serious person.”

Mapes landed the first television interview with the African American daughter of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, the onetime segregationist. She sealed her preeminence at CBS last spring, when she came up with the now infamous photos of Iraqi prisoners being abused at the Abu Ghraib prison. Rather first aired the photos on the “CBS Evening News.”

Rather had come to trust his fellow Texan to get the big stories. And get them right. He got occasional updates on the Bush records story and taped a couple of interviews, but relied on Mapes and the others to do the heavy lifting.

Advertisement

Mapes was supervised by veteran CBS News employees -- Mary Murphy, senior broadcast producer; Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Senior Vice President Betsy West -- but they had just joined “60 Minutes Wednesday,” and were working on their first big story with Mapes. They also gave her wide latitude, apparently because of her sterling reputation. All eventually lost their jobs.

Last year’s presidential race only stoked Mapes’ adrenaline and competitive fire. E-mail traffic and other records from last summer showed Mapes and her co-workers routinely fretting over the progress USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and others were making on the Bush National Guard story.

In early August, she messaged Howard: “There is a strong general feeling that, this time, there is blood in the water.”

The nature of the election only seemed to amp up the Guard story. A controversial war raged in Iraq. And Sen. John F. Kerry, the Democratic nominee, traded heavily on his decorated service in Vietnam.

Mapes had already delved into then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush’s military records during his 2000 White House run. She heard reports at the time from a few veterans that the state’s National Guard units had been used “as a haven for children of privilege at the height of the Vietnam War,” as she wrote in an e-mail to her bosses at the time.

Republican partisans viewed such statements as evidence of political bias. They joined some independent analysts in faulting the review panel for not concluding whether liberal political sentiments tainted CBS’ story. But a review of months of provocative internal CBS e-mails uncovered no messages that attacked Bush directly.

Advertisement

Courting a Source

In June 2004, an e-mail helped reignite Mapes’ interest in Bush’s military days. It came from freelance writer and producer Michael Smith, who had helped research the Bush biography “First Son.” He wrote that he might have some “tasty brisket” for the “60 Minutes Wednesday” producer.

Mapes made it clear in late July that she wanted Smith’s help. “I desperately want to talk to you,” she e-mailed. “Do NOT underestimate how much I want this story.”

In late August, Mapes inched closer to the story. Anti-Bush activist Linda Starr (whose website proclaimed “Bush Lied, Americans Died”) told the CBS producer she believed Burkett had obtained two memos that would illuminate Bush’s service as a Guard pilot.

By then, Bill Burkett’s name had grown somewhat infamous among other journalists.

The former Army guardsman had made a splash six months earlier by claiming he had overheard Bush’s chief of staff arrange the “scrubbing” of embarrassing documents from his military file. Then Burkett backed away from his claim. He made conflicting statements. He also acknowledged that he had a long-running feud with the Guard because it had once denied him medical benefits.

Mapes explained to the review panel later that she initially was too busy to pay much attention to the Burkett stories, according to the panel’s accounts of her statements. She said she was too immersed in her reporting on Abu Ghraib.

At first, Burkett held back the memos and made demands. CBS producers promised that his identity would be protected and that they would consider other requests. And Burkett -- who declined to speak to the CBS review panel -- had plenty of requests.

Advertisement

The report said he wanted a bodyguard, a prepaid cellphone, a consulting contract with CBS, housing relocation payments and an introduction to Kerry campaign operatives, whom he would tell how to rebut attacks on the Democrat’s military record.

Smith, now an associate producer for Mapes, described Burkett as “high-maintenance.” Mapes in one e-mail jokingly referred to the source as “our bitter little man.” But there were also more serious issues at hand: Paying Burkett as a CBS consultant, or acting as his go-between with Kerry’s camp, would give at least the appearance of conflicts of interest.

The CBS producers appeared to at least keep those options on the table as they tried to coax the memos out of Burkett. In the end, the onetime guardsman got his cellphone, which the news people justified as making contact with Burkett easier. More problematically, the panel found, Mapes also helped serve as a conduit between the former guardsman and a top Kerry operative, Joe Lockhart.

Mapes told the review panel she agreed to act as the go-between only after executive producer Howard approved the move. Howard says he denied the request -- one of many instances in which Mapes’ account diverged from that of her co-workers, the panel found.

Lockhart said he gleaned from Mapes that a conversation with Burkett might persuade him to release more of Bush’s Guard records. But the old Democratic hand said he worried about a Republican “setup” and, when he finally connected with Burkett, he said he kept his comments brief.

On Thursday, Sept. 2 -- the same day Bush accepted his nomination for a second term from the Republicans in New York -- Burkett decided he was ready to give up the memos. He met the CBS reporters at a restaurant near his Abilene, Texas, home.

Advertisement

Sometime during a three-hour meeting, a still-skittish Burkett handed Mapes and Smith two dim photocopies; curt notes, typed in military jargon, on plain paper.

One of the documents appeared to be written by Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, Bush’s onetime commander in the 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. It ordered the young lieutenant to take a physical or lose his flight status.

Three days later at the same restaurant, Burkett handed over four more memos, purportedly written by Killian for his personal files. One described how Killian felt pressured by a commanding officer to “sugarcoat” Bush’s record.

Mapes & Co. had bagged something the competition hadn’t: apparent statements from a commander that corners were being cut for the future president. Elated, she reported back to New York. She had finally landed the papers that Smith had once described as the “Holy Grail.”

Seeking Verification

Word got back to the CBS producers that other news organizations were chasing the memos, hard. The CBS team rushed to make sure they nailed the story first.

That Friday morning, before the long Labor Day weekend, Mapes messaged co-workers that she had awakened early, “too excited, busy, stressed, etc. to sleep, I guess.”

Advertisement

The investigation proceeded on two tracks -- with Mapes and her assistants attempting first to authenticate the six memos, and second to find sources who might validate their content. (Only four memos would be aired.)

Significantly, the review panel found, CBS paid little heed to a third line of inquiry: confirming how Burkett got the memos. Network news supervisors knew almost nothing about Burkett or his history. Rather, for one, was unaware that the Guard retiree had claimed he got the memos from another former guardsman.

(After the story collapsed, Burkett shifted his account, saying a stranger had passed him the papers in a document drop at a Houston livestock show.)

About midday Friday in New York, Associate Producer Yvonne Miller received a tough assignment from Mapes: Find four document experts to authenticate the memos -- over the holiday weekend.

They planned to air the story of Bush’s Guard service the following Wednesday, near the start of the new television season.

Miller somehow found the experts, but all issued a caution: It would be difficult to give a definitive answer without the original memos.

Advertisement

Mapes would later concede a mistake to the review panel -- that when she obtained the second group of four memos that Sunday, she was so rushed that she sent them to only one of her four experts.

By Sunday afternoon, one of the experts was expressing qualms. The proportional letter spacing on the documents and the superscript “th” (used, for example, in writing Bush’s 111th Fighter Interceptor Squadron) looked incongruous, like type that might have been produced on a modern word processor.

CBS flew handwriting expert Marcel Matley from San Francisco to New York on Monday, Labor Day, to tape an interview with Rather. He alone had scrutinized all of the Burkett memos.

As soon as Rather had finished “CBS Evening News,” he interviewed Matley. Everyone present agreed the taping did not go well. Matley seemed uncertain. He would say later that he could pass judgment only on the one memo that contained a complete signature.

A retaping of the Matley interview satisfied Rather and some of his colleagues that all four memos had been authenticated. In later interviews with the panelists and other journalists, it became clear that Matley was not nearly that certain.

That same night, Mapes turned to the content half of the reporting equation. She phoned retired National Guard Maj. Gen. Bobby Hodges, who had commanded Bush’s fighter group in Houston.

Advertisement

Mapes told the panel later that she read all six of the memos to the military man and that he confirmed that they mirrored the frustrations that squadron commander Killian had with Bush. “Jerry mad @ Bush leaving,” read one of the producer’s notes from the interview.

He had said no such thing, Hodges told the review panel. Had he been shown the papers, he would have immediately recognized them as phony, he said. And he had no recollection of Killian being angry about Bush’s cutting short his service, he said.

(In an interview with the Los Angeles Times shortly after the story aired, Hodges said Bush did his duty, but he also described Killian as an excessive stickler for regulations who conceivably could have lodged complaints about Bush’s performance.)

Mapes took the conversation with Hodges as confirmation of the memos. The next morning she e-mailed a superiors that the memos were “not just juicy. They’re TRUE.” CBS News President Andrew Heyward recalled later that at about the same time, Rather assured him he had not “been involved in this much checking on a story since Watergate.”

On Tuesday, Sept. 7, the CBS producers worked feverishly to finish the production -- throwing together graphics, video and file photos of young lieutenant Bush.

Heyward told two of the top news executives to work closely with Mapes and Rather and not let the duo “stampede us in any way.”

Advertisement

Mapes would tell the review panel she asked for more time for the story. But her colleagues recalled her pushing to get it on the air. She knew USA Today had the same documents.

Late Tuesday evening, the stress level in the CBS newsroom climbed.

Document experts Emily Will and Linda James called, in short succession, to question the use of the memos in the segment. Even Associate Producer Roger Charles, a retired military man, expressed concerns.

According to the panel report, Mapes responded at one point: “Enough about the [expletive] ‘th.’ ”

Associate Producer Miller said later that it seemed that night like “everything but the ceiling tiles” was falling down on Mapes.

But the newswoman stood her ground. After midnight, she dismissed the experts’ worries in an e-mail to Howard, concluding: “I think all these people are nuts.”

Supposed Confirmation

On Sept. 8, the morning of the “60 Minutes Wednesday” broadcast, only one major task seemed undone: an interview with the White House.

Advertisement

The president’s spokesman, Dan Bartlett, objected strongly to the notion that Bush had not done his duty. He reminded White House correspondent John Roberts of the president’s honorable discharge. But he also called CBS a reputable organization and said he would not question the memos’ authenticity.

Executive Producer Howard said in an interview that he and others at CBS viewed the interview as the final confirmation. “The White House said they were authentic,” he said. “And that carried a lot of weight with us.”

Even before a final review and screening, television ads promoted the story. Rather did not attend those last sessions, an absence the reviewers said might have deprived the piece of “valuable perspective.”

CBS News President Heyward left the decision on the “For the Record” segment to producers Murphy and Howard and to Vice President West. All said the package was ready to go.

Still Under Siege

Within hours of the broadcast, the CBS report came under heavy fire. Conservative websites led the charge with descriptions of the suspect typography, echoing the concerns the network’s experts had raised hours before. Soon, newspapers had taken up the assault.

Mapes and her team found themselves under a siege that has still not lifted, even after Burkett’s admission that he had misled CBS and after Rather’s prime-time apology 12 days after the original story.

Advertisement

In their limited public comments, Rather and Mapes have said they continue to believe the content of the memos was real. They have been less clear about whether they think the documents themselves are authentic.

The producer issued a statement last week charging that the panel had not considered how the memos “meshed” perfectly with Bush’s known service record. She said her superiors alone chose to air the segment without further research.

Among the fallout for Mapes: Her father, Don Mapes, denounced her on talk radio in Washington state as a radical feminist, saying he was “ashamed.”

Her husband, Wrolstad, on Friday praised his wife’s ethics and said they were “praying for a fairer outcome, for everyone.”

The panel suggested that the provenance of the memos may never be known. But former Atty. Gen. Richard L. Thornburgh and Associated Press President Louis D. Boccardi, who headed the review, left no doubt they believed CBS rushed to judgment.

“It would have been better to ‘lose’ the story on the Killian documents to a competitor,” they concluded, “than to air it short of investigating and vetting to the highest standards of fairness and accuracy.”

Advertisement

Rainey reported from Los Angeles, Gold from Dallas. Times staff writers Scott Collins in Los Angeles and Josh Getlin in New York contributed to this report.

Advertisement