'Memogate' scapegoat was a messenger who erred - I don't think so

'Memogate' scapegoat was a messenger who erred

Robert Jamieson of the Seattle-PI comes to the defense of Mary Mapes, of Rathergate/Memogate fame, in his column today. He argues that a distinguished career as a journalist should not be destroyed by this one lapse in the adherence to journalistic standards. I think he is wrong for a number of reasons

First for a comparison he uses the Carl Cameron incident on Fox News, this doesn't work for a couple of reasons. One difference is Fox and Cameron immediately admitted to the mistake and apologized CBS didn't. Another difference - Cameron's "report" was a short lead story with one person working it, specifically John Kerry's reaction to his own performance in a debate. The Bush Memos story while rushed had a much longer lead time, a production staff, editorial and legal review, and Mapes was repeatedly warned about potential problems with the memos. She proceeded anyway.

Secondly this isn't the first instance of this type of behavior by Ms. Mapes. In 1987 the Seattle Police were engaged in a battle with drug gangs. In the course of the fight a raid was staged on a suspected crack house and an African American man was shot. An inquest was held and was about to declare that the police had followed procedure and the shooting was justified when Ms. mapes produced a series for KIRO news called a shot in the dark. In this report a witness was produced who stated that the police had not followed procedure and announced themselves and had burst in and executed the suspect. The inquest had to re-examine witnesses and t looked like it was going to rule against the officers, until a reporter from the Seattle - PI stepped forward. This reporter had accompanied the officers on the raid had heard them knock and announce themselves and backed their story regarding the shooting. In addition he specifically identified the witness located by Ms. Mapes as an individual who had climbed out of the bushes, drunk, after the shooting and had asked what was going on. The reporter had told this man about the shooting. The officers were exonerated and Ms. Mapes left KIRO for CBS.

Given that history I don't think her being fired by CBS is an instance of scapegoating.