Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - CBSNEWS LAUNCHES INTERNAL INVESTIGATION AFTER SUSPICIOUS BUSH DOCS AIRED

charms · 09-13-2004, 08:44 PM

Mostly a lurker, and certainly not a Bush fan. I also have some limited experience with typesetting and can assure you that it is extremely difficult to create identical documents using different technologies, even deliberately. Despite the fact that they are supposed to be, fonts are not constant. The Times New Roman of 1931 is not the TNR of 1972 is not the TNR of 2004.

The important issue here is why a respected news organization refuses to acknowledge the valid criticisms coming from a growing number of experts. Consider that the individual who supposedly validated the documents does not stand by the story, nor do any of the family members closest to Killian who is, conveniently, dead.

The question of forgeries obviously needs to be validated, but for now the burden clearly lies upon CBS. Liberal bloggers have frantically attempted to...ahem, 'justify' the document by asking us to:

a) assume it is merely coincidental that hasty attempts to reproduce the documents using MSWord's default settings generated documents nearly indistinguishable from the CBS documents which have been copied, faxed, scanned, downloaded, and reprinted.

b) believe that an individual, who by his own family's testimony never typed, happened to assemble a variety of limitedly available and unrelated technologies generally only known to typographic professionals to create four casual memos which then sat undisturbed in hidden files for 32 years until the week after the RNC.

Others reply with the argument that the documents validity is irrelevant because they somehow represent a larger truth. This fatuous line of thinking is disturbing, not to mention hypocritical when invoked for the purpose of criticizing - of all people - Bush.

It is becoming increasingly obvious that Rather has been either recklessly negligent or deviously dishonest, yet he continues to even consider the possiblility. Yet CBS and the Boston Globe have closed ranks and continued to mislead, at this point apparently deliberately. Furthermore, they refuse to provide any further proof or independent examination asking us to essentially "take their word for it."

The question is vitally important. The government can, and will, lie to the public. The media is the arbiter of truth and this issue goes far beyond bias to the even more fundamental issue of integrity.

09-13-2004, 08:44 PM	#83 (permalink)
charms Upright	Mostly a lurker, and certainly not a Bush fan. I also have some limited experience with typesetting and can assure you that it is extremely difficult to create identical documents using different technologies, even deliberately. Despite the fact that they are supposed to be, fonts are not constant. The Times New Roman of 1931 is not the TNR of 1972 is not the TNR of 2004. The important issue here is why a respected news organization refuses to acknowledge the valid criticisms coming from a growing number of experts. Consider that the individual who supposedly validated the documents does not stand by the story, nor do any of the family members closest to Killian who is, conveniently, dead. The question of forgeries obviously needs to be validated, but for now the burden clearly lies upon CBS. Liberal bloggers have frantically attempted to...ahem, 'justify' the document by asking us to: a) assume it is merely coincidental that hasty attempts to reproduce the documents using MSWord's default settings generated documents nearly indistinguishable from the CBS documents which have been copied, faxed, scanned, downloaded, and reprinted. b) believe that an individual, who by his own family's testimony never typed, happened to assemble a variety of limitedly available and unrelated technologies generally only known to typographic professionals to create four casual memos which then sat undisturbed in hidden files for 32 years until the week after the RNC. Others reply with the argument that the documents validity is irrelevant because they somehow represent a larger truth. This fatuous line of thinking is disturbing, not to mention hypocritical when invoked for the purpose of criticizing - of all people - Bush. It is becoming increasingly obvious that Rather has been either recklessly negligent or deviously dishonest, yet he continues to even consider the possiblility. Yet CBS and the Boston Globe have closed ranks and continued to mislead, at this point apparently deliberately. Furthermore, they refuse to provide any further proof or independent examination asking us to essentially "take their word for it." The question is vitally important. The government can, and will, lie to the public. The media is the arbiter of truth and this issue goes far beyond bias to the even more fundamental issue of integrity.