A Short Essay on the Absence of Bias at CBS News

I heard many speculations on AM radio today about the statement by the Memogate Tribunal that, regardless of its other conclusions, it could not find that CBS had exhibited any political bias in its approach to the TexANG story.

It is hard to believe that Dick Thornburgh has deteriorated so badly that he can't recall one of the prime directives for prosecutors. It is not always the dog that barks that warns you of impending danger. Sometimes it is the dog that doesn't bark.

In this case, CBS' blithe conduct with regard to the questions surrounding Senator Kerry's Vietnam service as well as the circumstances surrounding his questionable discharge status was the most telling indication of political bias. A child could tell you that an objective news organization would balance both stories and cover them with equal depth and resources.

How do you compare a story about a son of privilege taking advantage of the system then in place with that of a dubious war "hero" pulling the wool over the eyes of his commanders with trumped up, self-concocted stories of gallantry, consorting with the enemy in the midst of wartime, and a possible later conversion of his military separation from honorable to dishonorable? One is a news article, the other is a novel, worthy of Richard Condon, Robert Louis Stevenson or even Joseph Conrad.

Why then didn't CBS pursue Mr. Kerry's military record with equal zeal?

Gosh, I don't know...