The documents that Rather were relying on were forgeries, and such badly done forgeries that individual viewers had exposed them before the episode even finished airing. []Instead of swallowing their pride and admitting that they got taken in by a politically-motivated con artist, the staff involved with the report absolutely refused to budge on the issue; instead, the bloggers who established that the documents were fake were referred to as the “pajamahadeen”.[]It was for failing to own up to the network’s journalistic failings in regards to the story – and later statements that the documents were “fake but accurate” – that Rather and several other CBS staffers were fired.
The documents that Rather were relying on were forgeries, and such badly done forgeries that individual viewers had exposed them before the episode even finished airing. []Instead of swallowing their pride and admitting that they got taken in by a politically-motivated con artist, the staff involved with the report absolutely refused to budge on the issue; instead, the bloggers who established that the documents were fake were referred to as the “pajamahadeen”.[]It was for failing to own up to the network’s journalistic failings in regards to the story – and later statements that the documents were “fake but accurate” – that Rather and several other CBS staffers were fired.