CBS News president Andrew Heyward ‘fesses up. Sort of.
"60 Minutes Wednesday" had full confidence in the original report or it would not have aired.
However, in the wake of serious and disturbing questions that came up after the broadcast, CBS News has done extensive additional reporting in an effort to confirm the documents' authenticity. That included an interview featured on last week's edition of "60 Minutes Wednesday" [or “60 Minutes II] with Marian Carr Knox, secretary to the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, the officer named as the author of the documents; the interview with Bill Burkett to be seen tonight [--ed/ Bold mine.]; and a further review of the forensic evidence on both sides of the debate.
Based on what we now know, CBS News cannot prove that the documents are authentic, which is the only acceptable journalistic standard to justify using them in the report. We should not have used them. That was a mistake, which we deeply regret. Nothing is more important to us than our credibility and keeping faith with the millions of people who count on us for fair, accurate, reliable, and independent reporting. We will continue to work tirelessly to be worthy of that trust."
So Bill Burkett is probably the source.
Being wrong and making mistakes are part of being human. But surely someone in the organization of humans known as CBS knew up front that the documents in question couldn’t be authenticated. Notice that the statement doesn’t come right out front and state that the documents are fraudulent. Is Mr. Heyward anticipating possible legal consequences?
