Rather resigned as nightly news anchor

The US network CBS is reeling after an internal investigation revealed "considerable and fundamental deficiencies" in its reporting of President George W Bush's National Guard service.

The investigation also said the network mounted a "rigid and blind defence of the Segment after it aired despite numerous indications of its shortcomings."

In September 2004, just months ahead of the election, the network's nightly news anchor Dan Rather reported that President Bush had received preferential treatment based on documents it had obtained.

The report was immediately disputed, and after initially defending the story, Mr Rather was forced to offer an on-air apology.

The investigation called for the immediate dismissal of the producer in charge of the story and called for the resignation of three other managers and news executives.

Mr Rather announced last November that he would step down as the nightly news anchor, but he will continue as a correspondent for the network's flagship news programme "60 Minutes," which aired the disputed report on its Wednesday edition.

But Mr Rather is facing pressure to resign from all duties at the network, and media watchers and at least one CBS commentator are questioning why CBS News President Andrew Heyward was spared.

Press response damning

The internal investigation received widespread coverage in the US media, which has been battered by a series of media scandals in the last two years at such major newspapers as the New York Times and USA Today.

"The 224-page report, which blames the network's rush on a 'myopic zeal' to be first with the Bush story, amounts to a stunning repudiation of the newsgathering process of CBS News," wrote Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz.

The US media hit CBS hard in the wake of the investigation

The New York Times wrote: "Already under duress from years of budget cuts, poor ratings and reduced influence, CBS News suffered a crushing blow to its credibility yesterday because of a broadcast that has now been labelled as both factually discredited and unprofessionally produced."

The Boston Globe called the investigation "a scathing independent post-mortem that describes the story's journalistic failings".

Heads roll

CBS President Leslie Moonves told the Washington Post said the report was a black eye for the network and that the revelations were a blow, but not a fatal one.

"Ninety-nine percent of the stories we do are accurate and solid," he said.

He said that the staff responsible had been fired, including Mary Mapes, the lead producer on the story.

Producer Mary Mapes broke the Abu Ghraib story but was fired over the report

Ms Mapes had gained notoriety at CBS for breaking the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

She has released a statement saying that she was "shocked by the vitriolic scapegoating in the Les Moonves' statement" and expressed concern that he was "motivated by corporate and political considerations - ratings rather journalism".

Senior broadcast producer Mary Murphy and executive producer Josh Howard have been asked to resign as well as senior vice president Betsy West.

The investigation found that CBS News president Andrew Heyward had called for caution and given Ms West the task of reviewing the story from early on.

However, he did sign off on the story only hours before it aired.

CBS felt that Mr Rather's resignation as the network's nightly news anchor was punishment enough.

But some commentators, including CBS's own Andy Rooney, said there should be more accountability at the top.

"The people on the front lines got fired while the people most instrumental in getting the broadcast on escaped," Mr Rooney told USAToday.

Mr Rather has long been a target of conservatives who see him as a prime example of a liberal bias in the media.

But the report said they could not find evidence that the story was politically motivated by a bias against President Bush.

However, Ms Mapes had put one of her sources in contact with the Democratic Party, which many commentators said was a conflict of interest and cast doubt on the network's claims of impartiality.

Bloggers win

Commentators also said the relationship between the media and its audience has fundamentally shifted in the age of the blog - online commentators who in this case acted as a grass roots fact check for the report.

This turn of events marks a historic shift in media power relationships. A bunch of bloggers, working mostly at home - the so-called pyjama gang - actually nailed the 'Tiffany Network' James Pinkerton, Newsday

"Blogs 1, CBS 0," wrote New York Newsday columnist James Pinkerton.

The report was largely based on documents provided by Lieutenant Colonel Bill Burkett, a vocal critic of President Bush.

Conservative bloggers began questioning the authenticity of the documents within 18 minutes after the report aired, according to Jeff Jarvis of the Buzzmachine blog.

"This turn of events marks a historic shift in media power relationships. A bunch of bloggers, working mostly at home - the so-called pyjama gang - actually nailed the 'Tiffany Network'," Mr Pinkerton wrote.