The case of the CBS Bush Memo controversy deals with the authenticity of memos cited in a 60 Minutes report. CBS news anchor Dan Rather cited documents regarding President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard. These documents are now being scrutinized by experts concerning the authenticity of these documents.
             The 60 Minutes segment, citing the memos in suspect, suggested lapses in President Bush's military record. The story, which aired September 8th, cited a memo allegedly written by Lt. Col. Jerry B. Killian, Bush's late squadron leader. The authenticality of the documents was questioned when documents experts noticed that the memos appear to have been written on a computer and not on the kind of typewriter that would have been used in the 1970s ("CBS Apologizes..."). The question of "How could that have happened?" has now arisen.
             CBS's source for the memos – retired Texas National Guard officer Bill Burkett – recently admitted to CBS that he lied about obtaining the documents from another former National Guard member. Burkett says, however, that he did not fake or forge any documents. He says that he simply felt pressured by CBS to reveal his source and basically threw out a name to relieve pressure. He insists that he did urge CBS to authenticate the documents on its own ("CBS Apologizes...").
             CBS insists that it was mislead by its source – Bill Burkett. Two documents experts consulted by CBS even later revealed that they brought the authenticality issue to the attention of network officials who chose to apparently disregard their findings ("CBS Apologizes..." If this is the case, then why would the story have been aired? CBS says it was deceived by a source, but, if they had previous knowledge of this situation, then what else could explain why this story was ever aired?
             One possible journalistic ethical mal...