Retraction?

Finally that important word is raised this morning in Howard Kurtz’s latest – CBS, Sitting Between Fiasco And Fallout:

Bob Zelnick, a former ABC correspondent who now chairs Boston University’s journalism department, faulted CBS’s apology, saying: “There’s one word I haven’t heard so far: retraction. They’ve yielded inch by inch on the authenticity of the documents and the reliability of the source, but without the documents there was no story.” Until CBS retracts the story and apologizes directly to Bush, “it mitigates the potential beneficial effect of an independent board.” (hat tip: Catherine Johnson)

MEANWHILE… and more importantly… Safire says “First Find the Forger“… At the root of what is today treated as an embarrassing blunder by duped CBS journalists may turn out to be a felony by its faithless sources.