CBS - FORMER CBS NEWS PRESIDENT: MILITARY ANALYSTS DECEIVED PUBLIC

FORMER CBS NEWS PRESIDENT: MILITARY ANALYSTS DECEIVED PUBLIC

The former president of CBS News has expressed anger over recent revelations by the New York Times that military analysts hired by the networks to present unbiased observations about the conduct of the war in Iraq had undisclosed ties to the Pentagon and/or military contractors. "There was a deliberate attempt to deceive the public," Andrew Heyward, who served as president of CBS News from 1996 to 2005, told National Public Radio. "Analysts whose real allegiance was to the Pentagon and who apparently were given at least special access for that allegiance were presented as analysts whose allegiance was to the networks and, therefore, the public." Former Army Maj. Gen John Batiste, who eventually became critical of the war and was not invited to the P entagon for briefings as some of his colleagues were, told NPR that there was "a very deliberate attempt on the part of the administration to shape public opinion" about the war and that it seemed to him that most military analysts appearing on the broadcast networks and cable news channels "were parroting administration talking points." Nevertheless, on his blog, The Daily Nightly, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams insisted that the two principal military analysts employed by NBC News, the late former Gen. Wayne Downing and former Gen. Barry McCaffrey "never gave what I considered to be the party line. ...At no time did our analysts, on my watch or to my knowledge, attempt to push a rosy Pentagon agenda before our viewers."

02/05/2008