Josh Howard’s actions are consistent with the Thornburgh/Boccardi report
Joe Hagan reports today in the New York Observer that the Rathergate 3 will not go gentle — or go at all. Josh Howard apparently believes that the Thornburgh / Boccardi report — and other undisclosed evidence — exonerates him from culpability in the Rathergate scandal. Excerpt, beginning with Les Moonves’ past comments about Howard:
Mr. Moonves said, “did little to assert his role as the producer ultimately responsible for the broadcast and everything in it. This mistake dealt a tremendous blow to the credibility of 60 Minutes Wednesday and to CBS News in general.”….
Mr. Howard’s complaint about Mr. Moonves’ remarks could pose a serious problem for CBS. Sources close to Mr. Howard said he believes that the report—which was assembled by an outside team of former Attorney General Richard Thornburgh and former Associated Press head Louis Boccardi Jr.—contradicts Mr. Moonves’ statement about Mr. Howard’s share of the blame.
Mr. Howard also believes, those sources said, that the report itself excludes evidence that would implicate top management at CBS and restore Mr. Howard’s reputation in the television news business.
We have read the Rathergate report, and there is no basis in the report for firing Howard. Indeed, he is the first to have raised the possibility of CBS publicly saying it may have been duped — within two days of the September 8, 2004 broadcast; further, he appears to have been excluded from subsequent management meetings after continuing to express an heretical opinion.
Perhaps Josh Howard is just negotiating for a larger settlement with CBS, whose offer has been reported to be less than generous. But we recall a tantalizing statement on approximately the day that the Rathergate report was released, by Bernie Goldberg to Sean Hannity. He said, as is also alleged by Howard, that there are internal CBS emails that point the finger to top network executives. Goldberg said he would comment further, implying a blockbuter report, that evening on Hannity & Colmes, but so far as we are aware, nothing further came of this.
We hope Howard’s posture is not a settlement ploy, though no doubt CBS could offer him enough money to solve the matter. For our part, we still have lots of unanswered questions that a judicial proceeding could answer.