The operative term is "myopic zeal," according to a report, released today, that reconstructs events leading up to CBS's controversial Sept. 8 "60 Minutes Wednesday" report on President Bush's National Guard service during Vietnam.
   It was myopic zeal that drove the team of CBS News producers to blunder so badly in their reporting, and it was this same myopic zeal that led to four of them being fired today with the report's release.
   The most senior person to be axed is Betsy West, senior vice president of primetime. The others were producers associated with the segment.
    The report comes from the independent review panel of former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Associated Press president Louis D. Boccardi. The report, which is 224 pages, can be found in its entirety at CBSNews.com.

    Asked to resign, in addition to West, were Josh Howard, executive producer of “60 Minutes Wednesday,” and his right hand, Mary Murphy, a senior broadcast producer. The segment's producer, Mary Mapes, was simply fired.
   Dan Rather, the story’s correspondent and CBS “Evening News” anchor, is stepping down, effective in March.

   Rather was basically let off the hook with a knuckle rap in the report, with the panel finding that his busy schedule may have contributed to the shoddy preparation leading up to the Sept. 8 segment. The week previous he anchored his newscast from the 2004 Republican National Convention and also covered Hurricane Frances in Florida. But Rather is cited for failing to look more deeply into some of the facts supporting the story, such as the authenticity of certain memos.
   CBS News president Andrew Heyward also escaped relatively unscathed, with the panel’s report showing he specifically warned West and Howard to be prepared to defend the Bush story.
   As for whether political bias seeped into CBS's coverage of the story, as charged at the time by Republicans,  the panel "does not find a basis to accuse those who investigated, produced, vetted or aired the segment as having a political bias."
   But it does acknowledge more care should have been taken, considering the timing of the piece weeks before the November election.

   In the report, the panel says the Sept. 8 segment reflected “a widespread breakdown of fundamental processes at ‘60 Minutes Wednesday.’” 
   Some of the panel’s recommendations include that the show create a Standards Executive position that reports directly to the president of CBS News.

    The panel also encourages CBS News to allow senior management to know the names of all confidential sources. It also gives the network a slap for letting competitive instincts take over for journalistic ones. Also, the panel suggests CBS News employ a separate team to investigate reporting should similar situations arise in the future.

   CBS CEO Leslie Moonves issued a statement that summarized most of the Thornburgh-Boccardi report, apparently realizing very few would want to read the 224-page tome. After giving some background on why the investigation occurred, Moonves gives two main reasons for the screw-up: the rush to get the segment on the air and the shoddy reporting by segment producer Mary Mapes.

    Moonves says Mapes “presented half-truths as facts to those with whom she worked. And they trusted her, relied on her impressive reputation and proven track record, and did not hold her to the high standards of accountability that have always been the backbone of CBS News reporting.”

   CBS News, in its hurry to get the report onto the air, demonstrated “no effective vetting of these critical documents by those at CBS News required to do so, or of many other statements in the September 8^th report, or of the reports that followed on the 'CBS Evening News.' Once again, the system broke down, relying on trust rather than the implementation of existing standards.”

    Moonves then proceeds to explain who will be fired and why. 
   Mapes, of course, is one of them, as are several more minor CBS News figures in addition to West, of whom he says, “it was West’s job to make sure that the vetting of the documents and sources used in this investigation was complete and that the final segment was fair and unbiased.”
   Rather is excused for his errors because he “was pushed to the limit in the week before the September 8^th broadcast. ... He was convinced that the documents were authenticated because he was told in no uncertain terms that this was so.”
   “60 Minutes Wednesday” associate producer Yvonne Miller, the New York-based segment producer assigned to Mapes only days before it aired, will keep her job. Senior producer Esther Kartiganer was reassigned elsewhere at CBS News.