EL RATHERGATE, es decir, el uso de documentos falsos sobre el supuesto escaqueo de Bush en la mili con los que la CBS acusó al tejano malvado durante la campaña electoral (posts relacionados: uno, dos, tres y cuatro; tampoco os perdáis este estupendo resumen que hizo en su momento José Carlos Rodríguez) se acaba de cobrar cuatro cabezas en la cadena de televisión: la de tres directivos de la división de informativos y la de Mary Mapes, la productora del programa 60 Minutes II en el que Dan Rather utilizó los documentos. Dan Rather ya había pactado un retiro anticipado que le permite salvar su honor:

Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service.

The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece. The panel also said CBS News had compounded that failure with a “rigid and blind” defense of the 60 Minutes Wednesday report.

Asked to resign were Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was terminated.

The correspondent on the story, CBS News anchor Dan Rather, is stepping down as anchor of CBS Evening News.

“We deeply regret the disservice this flawed 60 Minutes Wednesday report did to the American public, which has a right to count on CBS News for fairness and accuracy,” said CBS President Leslie Moonves.

Como comenta José Carlos Rodríguez en la anotación a la que he enlazado más arriba, se trata de un asunto en que los blogs han jugado un papel crucial.