60 Minutes Documentary Analysis

September 8, 2004, CBS’ program “60 Minutes” aired a story reporting that President George W. Bush’s preferential treatment from the Texas Air National Guard allowed him to go AWOL during the Vietnam War. Not only did the report claim that Bush abandoned his war duties, but that he also left to pursue a political career instead. 1The story was led by news anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes who were accompanied by other journalists. Rather and Mapes had found holes in President Bush’s military records that many other news organizations found. The problem in their reporting stemmed from unreliable sources and partisan reporting. It also came from the suspicion of false documents and forged signatures from Lieutenant Colonel Killian that …show more content…
Although they were portrayed in the film, “Truth,” as heroes who were just misunderstood, they got wrong, what every other news publication was able to get right. This led to the story of George W. Bush’s Vietnam War misconduct to be overshadowed by their poor reporting. The Boccardi-Thornburgh report found that the 60 Minutes’ segment violated the two main principles of CBS: accuracy and fairness. Substantial evidence from articles, the Boccardi-Thornburgh report, and the film, “Truth” support my claim; CBS was justified in condemning Mapes and Rather due to their violation of reporting accurately and …show more content…
In the film, Mike Smith questioned that the reason why Viacom, CBS’ parent company at the time, would side with the Republicans is so they could benefit from tax breaks and deregulations. Smith then concludes that CBS’ reporting on the wrongdoings of the Republican Party could cost Bush the reelection, thus hurting Viacom. In this situation, Mapes, Rather, and their crew are being treated unfairly due to Viacom’s bias towards the Republican