ìI suspect that Rather et al believe they can weather this storm, because they’ve gotten away with egregious fabrication and bias in the past.î

Charlie, I acknowledged that Rather and his toadies in the news division think they can get away with it. Itís not them Iím talking about. CBS News overall, is like any other business. They are in it to make money and give a return to their stockholders. My wife was in the television news business for many years and believe me that is the bottom line. Delivering the news is just the product they sell to make money. People like Rather et al delude themselves into thinking they are ìjournalistsî and above it all rather than shills whose real job it is to sell advertising. The bosses at that company have no such illusions and know their job is to make money and protect the golden goose.

Assuming they realize the memos are BS, the smartest thing to do is cut their losses. Say they got taken in (they can use the line that there was so much other evidence that they just didnít do the due diligence necessary), apologize to the President and to their public and that would deflate the criticism and take the story out of the news. That would not be a disaster for them and they live to fight another day. In fact, it may even be a positive for them by admitting they were wrong and apologizing. But continuing to back an untenable position just worsens the day of reckoning and could really have unknowable negative consequences. I just donít see a smart executive taking that kind of risk on the face of it.

ìDon’t buy this myself. I don’t think everyone acts in their self interest, that would be far too rational, and would also require them to know what their self interest was, a tricky proposition in itself.î

Chuck, I said people act on their “perception” of self-interest. It doesnít have to be rational or make any sense at all. If this werenít true then why are suicide bombers fed the 72 virgins in heaven story? Even in that case, it is a tacit acknowledgement that people are motivated by rewards. However, we generally assume rationality on the part of others in order to function in the world. If you didnít believe that then driving down a two way highway would be a pretty scary thing cause you could never be sure when some idiot might decide to pull into your lane just for sheer kicks. The top executives at CBS should not be playing ìchickenî with the franchise. I donít see how that is in their self-interest.