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One question I have from my reading of the Thornburgh/Boccardi report so far; why did the firings and demanded resignations stop where they did?

Not that I think Heyward and Moonves can long survive this fracas anyway:

"This should never have happened," said Leslie Moonves, the CBS chairman who announced the dismissals of four executives yesterday in the wake of an independent panel's report. The panel found that the "60 Minutes" program that dealt with President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard was unfair and misleading after being rushed to broadcast without proper vetting.

"This is a rude awakening for CBS News," Mr. Moonves said, "and the CBS News culture has to change."

What exactly that will mean is still uncertain, though several staff members reported the morale in the department to be devastatingly low. "We are all sad and miserable," said one CBS production staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect against criticism from superiors at the network.

Can either of these men lead a serious news operation anymore?

Posted by Mitch at January 11, 2005 07:59 AM | TrackBack