The report said that Killian's 86-year-old former secretary, Marian Carr Knox, who was interviewed by Rather, "stated that she did not have any personal knowledge about the content of the Killian documents." Knox said she answered Rather's questions -- by saying she didn't type the documents but that they reflected Killian's beliefs -- "on the assumption that the content was accurate."
CBS News also made "inaccurate press statements" that the then-secret source of the documents was "unimpeachable" and that numerous experts had vouched for their authenticity, the panel found.
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'Errors of Credulity'
Moonves said in a statement that Rather "asked the right questions initially, but then made the same errors of credulity and over-enthusiasm that beset many of his colleagues. . . . He defended the story overzealously afterward. . . . The panel has found that his unwillingness to consider that CBS News and his colleagues were in the wrong was a mistake." Since Rather is giving up the anchor chair, however, Moonves said any further action "would not be appropriate."
Moonves reserved his harshest words for Mapes, saying that "her basic reporting was faulty and her responses when questioned led others who trusted her down the wrong road."
The investigators said Mapes's account was at odds with those of others in several respects:
• She said that Maj. Gen. Bobby Hodges, former commander of Bush's National Guard unit, had confirmed the content of the documents over the phone. Hodges recalled saying only that he and Killian had discussed the fact that Bush had missed a flight physical and wanted to transfer his training to Alabama.
• Mapes said she briefed CBS management on Burkett's controversial background, including his anti-Bush sentiments. But network executives told the panel that they do not recall Mapes mentioning Burkett's name and that she used words like "solid," "without bias" and "credible" to describe her source.
• Mapes said that before calling Joe Lockhart, then a senior adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, to ask him to speak with Burkett, she cleared the idea with Howard, "60 Minutes Wednesday's" executive producer. But Howard said he warned her such a call would be inappropriate. The report described the phone call as "a clear conflict of interest" that "created the appearance of a political bias" at CBS.
In early August, Mapes told Howard by e-mail that "many many reporters from various print outlets (Harpers, Vanity Fair, NY Times mag, etc) all chasing the Bush National Guard stuff again. . . . There is a strong general feeling that this time, there is blood in the water." Michael Smith, a consultant hired by Mapes, told her by e-mail that if Burkett "shows us some leg," he would talk to Burkett about a book deal or " 'taking care of him' with money." Mapes later asked CBS management if the network could pay Burkett a consulting fee and was told no.
• Mapes said she asked for more time on the story, but West, Howard and Murphy all said she warned management that CBS would lose the scoop if it did not air on Sept. 8.
Two days after the broadcast, Howard suggested that CBS admit it may have been the victim of a hoax. But the network refused to apologize for another 10 days, when Howard recalled telling his staff: "Your management failed you. I failed you."
