Mary Mapes Unleashed

In a blog entry, former U.S. News & World Report journalist John W. Mashek sheds some light on the purported integrity and objectivity of the liberal media.

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The press has inflicted deep wounds on itself in recent years, but not all is wrong or lost in the media. That was the message in a three-day conference here on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.

Mary Mapes, the CBS producer who was fired over her role in a 60 Minutes II story about George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, said profiteering had taken over at television networks at the expense of news. Mapes defended her professionalism in the controversy, indicating that a rush to run the story played a role in the errors admitted by CBS.

Mapes implied that she took the fall, along with other female operatives, while the male executives at the network escaped with their jobs intact. Of course, Dan Rather, who had to humble himself for the mistake, left the network anchor chair a few months later.

In response to questioning from Wallace Westfeld, a former producer and executive at NBC News, Mapes ridiculed some critics of her reporting and authenticating. Of Rush Limbaugh, she said : "I don't need to be lectured on ethics from a much married, obese, drug addict."

Do you think that Mapes gets a bit personal there? Do you detect some anger?

I completely disagree with Mapes. I think that she most definitely needs a lecture -- on journalistic ethics AND social etiquette.

Mapes knew her comments were on the record. She had no qualms about referring to Limbaugh as a "much married, obese, drug addict."

It's not as if her remarks were made during a private cell phone call that was intercepted and taped by John and Alice Martin, who then delivered the tape to Jim McDermott, who then gave the illegal recording to the New York Times, and then her comments became front page news.

This is the PUBLIC face of Mary Mapes. Can you imagine what she must be like when she lets her guard down and speaks candidly in private?

Not only does she fail to take responsibility for her own obvious professional shortcomings, she blames others for her downfall.

She is clueless and classless.

Poor Mapes. She doesn't even know how to play the victim card well.

If she wants to come off as some sort of innocent, persecuted by the nasty Right, lashing out in such an ugly fashion undermines that persona.

Mapes and eager, aggressive lib propagandists in the media like her need to take a step back and honestly assess what they are doing.

It's not journalism. It's activisim, and it's ugly.