The Memos That Weren't Typed on a Typewriter
CBS News ran documents about a president's military record as authentic. Amateur readers with a magnifying glass and a copy of Microsoft Word found the tell within days.
- First reportCBS, 60 Minutes Wednesday
Documents raise questions about Bush's National Guard service
Dan Rather's segment, reported by producer Mary Mapes, presented memos purportedly from Bush's late squadron commander suggesting he received favorable treatment and skipped required duties in the Texas Air National Guard.
Factual America, "Dan Rather's Downfall: The Bush Document Scandal That Ended a CBS Career" ↗ - UpdateIndependent readers online
The memos look typed in Word, not on a 1970s typewriter
Within two days, readers pointed out the documents used proportional spacing and a superscript "th" — features common to Microsoft Word's default settings and essentially unavailable on typewriters from the period the memos claimed to be from.
Discourse Magazine, "The 60 Minutes Controversy Shows We Forgot the Lessons of 'Rathergate'" ↗ - CorrectionCBS News
CBS says it can no longer vouch for the documents
Less than two weeks after the broadcast, CBS acknowledged it could not authenticate the memos and that running them had been a mistake, without yet fully retracting the underlying reporting.
Washington Examiner, "Rather Shameful" ↗ - RetractionIndependent review panel (Dick Thornburgh, Louis Boccardi)
Panel: CBS "failed to follow basic journalistic principles"
The panel CBS itself commissioned found the network had rushed the story to air without adequately authenticating its central documents. CBS fired four staffers, including Mapes, and Dan Rather left the anchor chair within months.
Factual America, "Dan Rather's Downfall" ↗
What it teaches
The panel that ended two careers was hired by CBS itself, and held the story to a standard the newsroom hadn't held itself to before airing it. The correction came from inside the building — it just came after, not before.