CBS, Hoaxed or Hoaxer?

[stevenehrbar]

On Wednesday, CBS 60 Minutes II ran a story at least partially based on documents reportedly from the files of Lt. Colonel Jerry B. Killian.  A number of questions about the authenticity of the documents have been raised by experts, military personnel, and other media sources, but CBS is standing by them.

What's wrong with the CBS-Killian documents, say the doubters?  Well:

1. Horizontal spacing is proportional.
   
2. Vertical spacing is 13 points proportional, requiring typestting or a computer.
   
3. Superscript, reduced-size "th" after one number, as auto-formatted by Word.
   
4. Non-superscripted th following one number -- but only after a space. Adding a space would be a way to defeat Word's autoformat.
   
5. "Curly" apostrophes rather than straight apostrophes found on typewriters.
   
6. The font does not match anything for typewritiers in the Haas Atlas. It does match Times New Roman, which was created specifically for Microsoft.
   
7. Signatures/initials don't even remotely resemble those on known-authentic documents.
   
8. The tab position of the date matches MS Word's tab stop positions exactly.
   
9. The type is kerned, which requires either a computer or a typesetting machine.
   
10. The standard military paper at the time was 8 x 10.5. There should be photocopy lines on the 8.5 x 11 sheets indicating this.
    
11. Missing letterhead.
    
12. Address isn't the base, but PO Box 34567.
    
13. Formatting does not match early 1970s Air Force standards for formatting, but matches 2004 Air Force standards.
    
14. Killian's typed name-and-rank line differs from the one consistently used on all know-legit released documents
    
15. Physical wasn't due until June. Why order it in May?
    
16. Killian's personnel chief thinks they're fake.
    
17. Widow says they don't sound like her husband's wording.
    
18. Widow says her husband wrote notes on scrap, didn't type them
    
19. Widow says her husband liked Bush.
    
20. Son thinks they're fake; father didn't keep such records.

Many of these, can be explained away as individual items.   All of them at once is a pretty strong indiction these are phony.

So was CBS hoaxed, and by whom?  Or did CBS do the hoaxing?

Comments

[jackwalker.livejournal.com]

Doubt CBS did the hoaxing, although it would be interesting to know just where they got these documents. A "helpful" source, no doubt.

Argh. I hold no love for Bush, as we all know, but this is a bit beyond the pale . . .

[stevenehrbar.livejournal.com]

I agree on it being unlikely CBS did it. Remembering the Dateline (NBC) GM truck incident, I'm not willing to entirely dismiss the idea.

That CBS has said it's not going to run an internal investigation the documents . . . well, if I were in their shoes, I'd be running one, with a public announcement that I was going to either nail the "helpful" source to the wall or prove these improbable documents are genuine despite the doubts. It could be just the instinctive protective reaction of executives to deny there's any problem, of course.

[chadu.livejournal.com]

It's crazy that CBS's experts verified these documents. I mean, come on.
There's plenty of wack-ass crap out there re: Bush's guard career without having to make new crap up.

CU