NY Times -- "Fake, But Accurate"

[Ben]

So the New York Times printed an article about the Dan Rather / Bush National Guard debacle that calls the Rathergate stuff "fake, but accurate". I've gotta remember that line. It's great doublespeak.

You have to register to get the Times story online, but here's a link to Little Green Footballs where they have user comments on the story:

http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=12618

[K Frame]

Dan Rather was on Larry King the other night expressing wonderment at why his 44-year-career at the network came to an end. Gee, Dan, you think ignoring every journalistic tenet for verifying material might have something to do with it?

Nah.

I don't, though, have a big problem with the "fake but accurate" part. I can see how that could be the case.

Valid information is still valid information, even if it's contained in a fabricated package.

But, given statements by the Col. Killeen's family members, I sincerely doubt if the information is accurate.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

I think "fake but accurate" was the defense that Rather and CBS tried to use.  The NY Times wasn't the original source of that line.  

Those forged documents (which CBS' own document authentication experts told them were fakes) were the only solid basis for their anti-Bush hit piece.  They knew the story had to be false, and they ran it anyway, just days before the election.  I guess they figured nobody would notice their lies until after the election, when it wouldn't matter.  

Heh.  They were wrong.

I heard that Dan Rathers just accepted a job anchoring some no-name news show on some no-name cable network.  Serves him right.

[Perd Hapley]

Valid information is still valid information, even if it's contained in a fabricated package.

Are you saying the GWB's record really was poor, based on other evidence, but that this piece of evidence was a hoax?

[S. Williamson]

So is it okay if... when I shoot competitively, I walk out to my target with a pencil and poke out a bunch of holes in the 10-ring?

"It's fake, but accurate!"

Hershey's tastes like chocolate.  "It's fake, but accurate!"

[K Frame]

Fistful,

Get your head out of your ass and read my entire message and answer your own question.

[Ben]

I don't, though, have a big problem with the "fake but accurate" part.

My problem with it is that doing so basically "wraps the truth in a lie". Even if Rather's info was true, wrapping it in the fake document, to me, automatically would make it suspect, regardless of it's accuracy. If you have truthful information, then why bias your audience by "sneaking it" in?

To quote Kosh Naranik, "The truth holds to itself." If someone needs to use underhanded means to distribute "the truth", then they need to evaluate just how truthful their "truth" is.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

If the information was accurate and correct, Rathers and company would never have needed to bolster their story with forged evidence.  The real evidence should have been able to stand on its own.

One can infer, based on the fact that they felt it necessary to rely upon forged evidence, that they new their story was false all along.  That they ran it anyway is despicable.