Bob Schieffer, the next target

MEDIA MATTERS
Bob Schieffer, the next target
In wake of 'Rathergate' document scandal, thousands urge CBS newsman off debate

Posted: September 30, 2004
1:00 am Eastern

By Joe Kovacs
© 2009 WorldNetDaily.com

Bob Schieffer

As President Bush and Sen. John Kerry go head to head tonight in the first of three televised debates, there's a major effort under way to have CBS newsman Bob Schieffer removed from moderating the final event.

The website BoycottCBS.com says thousands of people have inundated the Commission on Presidential Debates with e-mails calling for the host of "Face the Nation" to be replaced in the Oct. 13 matchup.

"Americans are just furious," Mike Paranzino of BoycottCBS.com tells WorldNetDaily. "I don't have anything out for Bob Schieffer as a person. It's not about him personally. No one from CBS, while they're still in the midst of denial, should be moderating that debate."

Dan Rather

The impetus to replace Schieffer is the recent scandal involving fellow CBS anchorman Dan Rather, who broadcast a story on President Bush's military record – a story based on fabricated documents. It was only following heavy scrutiny that Rather apologized, and an internal investigation was initiated by the network.

"Bob Schieffer is not completely separate from this controversy," Paranzino says. "He's been parroting the CBS line long after everyone else realized the documents were fake."

On Sept. 14, almost a week after the initial broadcast of the phony documents, Schieffer said the network's need to protect confidential sources was making it difficult to prove the documents' authenticity.

"I think we have to find some way to show our viewers they are not forgeries. I don't know how we are going to do that without violating the confidentiality of sources," Schieffer said.

The following day, he told the Washington Post: "When Dan tells me these documents are not forgeries, I believe him."

After widespread criticism, Rather finally apologized and issued a statement saying he no longer would defend the authenticity of documents which raised questions about Bush's National Guard service.

Just this week, a weblog called INDC Journal posted a brief, on-the-street interview it conducted with Schieffer, who was asked to comment on the state of the scandal. He replied:

Here is all I can tell you: we made a bad mistake. We've admitted we made the mistake, we've appointed some distinguished outside people to help us figure out how not to make that mistake again, and we're gonna have to live with our mistake. [W]hat we have to do ... we've been hurt by this and ... what we have to do is get back our credibility one story at a time, one day at a time. This is not something that we can fix by just turning the light switch on and off. And, uh, it's been a really tough thing for us ... both from the standpoint of credibility and emotional. I mean, those of us who work here really love this place and ... we want to fix it and get on with it.

When asked if the scandal affected him personally regarding his moderation of the final debate, Schieffer said, "Well, there's been some e-mail that says that I should excuse myself ... but both the White House and the Kerry campaign have said that they think that I can do a fair and honest job. So as long as it's OK with them, I think it's OK."

Paranzino thinks once viewers watch tonight's debate, the effort to boot Schieffer will only increase.

"The moderator has a powerful impact on our perceptions of the candidate," he said, suggesting journalists like NBC's Tim Russert or former CNN anchor Bernard Shaw would be a better choice.

Paranzino believes the commission handling the debates is "hoping to run out the clock 'til the 13th and have Schieffer there," and he urges those concerned to e-mail the commission directly or fill out his online appeal.

BoycottCBS.com was created last year when the network planned to air a controversial film depicting former President Ronald Reagan in a negative light.

Paranzino says WorldNetDaily's breaking of that story was a key moment instrumental in reducing CBS' expected 22 million viewers of "The Reagans" to just 1 million when it never made the broadcast airwaves, but was seen only on the Showtime cable channel.

"In our early days, we were mocked," he said. "Pundits said boycotts would actually help the ratings. It was a great victory for fairness and common decency. I never thought the site would have a role after the Reagan series."

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