CBS - ANGRY LETTERS POUR INTO CBS OVER 60 MINUTES REPORT

Sunday night's 60 Minutes feature about 1,000 U.S. military personnel who signed a petition urging a withdrawal of forces from Iraq has touched off angry comments on the CBS News site, Public Eye. Brian Montopoli, who edits the site, said Monday that it had already filled 73 pages with public comments about the story, "many of them vitriolic." Montopoli also observed that even before the story aired, Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity called it "a hit piece" and charged that it was designed to "work with the Democrats in Congress, embolden the enemy, undermine the troops." Montopoli commented, "Whether the story should have run is, of course, a news judgment call" and maintained that it was made legitimate by a Military Times survey, cited in the report, that found more U.S. soldiers now oppose the president's handling of the war than support it.

27/02/2007