Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service. The firings came in the wake of a report by an independent panel that concluded CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel —headed by former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press President Louis Boccardi — also said CBS News had compounded that failure with “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report. Out in the purge are SVP Betsy West, who supervised CBS News' primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Exec. Producer Josh Howard; Sr. Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy; and the producer of the controversial piece, Mary Mapes. The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, has previously announced his plans to step down from that post in March. Commenting on the findings of the independent investigation, CBS President Les Moonves said, "We deeply regret the disservice this flawed 60 Minutes Wednesday report did to the American public, which has a right to count on CBS News for fairness and accuracy."
http://www.radioandrecords.com/Newsroom/2005_01_10/topstory.asp