Wednesday, October 26, 2005

America - Heyward Steps Down As CBS News President

That's the AP News headline. But look at the first paragraph:

NEW YORK (AP) - CBS announced Wednesday it is replacing embattled CBS News President Andrew Heyward with Sean McManus, chief of CBS Sports, who will keep both jobs.


Sound like he stepped down to you?

CBS still hasn't named a replacement for Dan Rather, who stepped down in March as anchor of the third-rated "CBS Evening News," and network chief Leslie Moonves had expressed discontent over ideas presented to him for revamping the broadcast.

Heyward presided over the delicate transition at his best-known broadcast, "60 Minutes," replacing founder Don Hewitt at the helm without any real impact in the show's popularity. He also established the spinoff "60 Minutes II," which was canceled this spring due to poor ratings.

CBS News' reputation took a severe hit with last September's pre-election story critical of Bush's military service after an independent panel found the network rushed the story onto the air without ever proving that documents upon which it was based were real. Three news executives were forced to resign and the piece's producer, Mary Mapes, was fired.


Actually, the panel concluded the documents were not authentic - forgeries to you and me.
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