Killian documents

Killian documents (also Memogate or Rathergate) refers to allegedly forged documents and the surrounding controversy that was publicized during the 2004 US presidential campaign, re-opening the George W. Bush military service controversy, and raising charges of political bias or poor oversight at CBS News. The documents were presented as authentic by CBS anchor Dan Rather in a 60 Minutes Wednesday segment that aired on September 8, 2004, and contained criticisms of President George W. Bush's quality of service in the Texas Air National Guard (TexANG) during the Vietnam war of the 1970s, by his then-commander, the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian. Near-immediate questioning of the authenticity of the documents on internet forums and blogs, initially focusing on their alleged anachronous typography, rapidly spread to the mainstream media.

Related Topics:
2004 US presidential campaign - George W. Bush military service controversy - CBS News - Dan Rather - 60 Minutes Wednesday - September 8 - 2004 - President - George W. Bush - Texas Air National Guard - Vietnam war - Lieutenant Colonel - Jerry B. Killian - Blogs - Typography - Mainstream media

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After defending the segment for about two weeks, CBS reversed their previous statements that document examiners had authenicated the memos. The Killian documents used by CBS are considered by most experts to be forgeries, and Rather himself stated "if I knew then what I know now-I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/20/politics/main644546.shtml CBS ordered an independent internal investigation. (pdf), which concluded that the producers had failed to authenticate the documents, and listed other serious criticisms of CBS news and their handling of the controversy. Mary Mapes, the segment's producer, was fired, several other senior executives resigned, and CBS apologized to viewers. The controversy, called Rathergate by critics of Dan Rather and CBS, damaged the reputations of CBS News and Dan Rather while bringing considerable attention to the blogging phenomenon.

Related Topics:
Mary Mapes - CBS News

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In authenticated documents, Killian described Bush as "an exceptionally fine young officer and pilot"http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/10/politics/main642489.shtml, but Marion Carr Knox, the 86 year old former secretary of Lt. Col. Killian, has stated that the documents accurately reflect Lt. Col. Killian's opinion of Bush's quality of service in the Texas Air National Guardhttp://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/091504dnpolnatguard.1185eb4ae.html. She stated she had no firsthand knowledge of Bush's time with the Texas Air National Guard, but did confirm that special treatment for the sons of prominent people, such as Bush was common.http://web.archive.org/web/20041012183430/http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2796630 Killian's son, Gary Killian, questioned at least one of the memos and characterized them as "a mixture of truth and fiction"http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/10/politics/main642489.shtml.

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Republicans claimed CBS was attempting to influence the 2004 US Presidential election, while some Democrats suspected the document controversy was preemptively engineered to misdirect media attention and undermine legitimate criticism of Bush's service record.

Related Topics:
2004 US Presidential election - Criticism of Bush's service record

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