My column in yesterday’s paper addressed the Dan Rather/CBS News scandal surrounding documents aired on 60 Minutes earlier this month.

This morning, both Andrew Heyward and Dan Rather issued statements essentially retracting the story, apologizing to the public and admitting error. I had called on Mr. Heyward to do this – among other things – in my column, and am glad to see that he is not beyond admitting wrongdoing.

But problems remain. The apology did not take note of Mr. Bush, the person must hurt by this malicious report. The bottom line is that CBS, whether it intended to do so or not, has suddenly ceased to become an unbiased news observer and commenced to become a major player in the upcoming election. This is an embarrassment to the legacies of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite.

Finally, I called for Dan Rather’s head, something that did not come today. It is perhaps unrealistic, though, to expect CBS to have fired their star anchor outright to quickly. But should Mr. Rather announce his “retirement” in the next 6-12 months, one must wonder if it isn’t still fallout from this incident. When Jayson Blair smeared the New York Times, Howell Raines hung his hat roughly half a year later. It is not unreasonable to wonder if Mr. Rather might not follow suit.