Maintaining journalistic integrity is something the Visor takes pride in. All reporting is carefully looked over, and facts are checked before anything goes to print. You'd think that if a high school newspaper can uphold the rules of journalism, surely the same could be said of a national news organization. But that just isn't the case anymore with CBS News.

On the Sept 8. edition of 60 Minutes II, news anchor Dan Rather reported that four documents had surfaced proving George W. Bush received preferential treatment to get out of serving in Vietnam. The memos allegedly were written by the late Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, one of Bush's commanders in the Texas Air National Guard.

Soon after the airing of the program, word started to spread that the documents were actually forgeries. CBS claimed these were all just rumors, until the man who brought the documents to CBS, Bill Burkett, a former Texas Guard official, admitted to CBS that he "misled" the network about where he received the memos. CBS could not verify exactly where the memos came from, or if they were even authentic. The memos seem to have been created by a modern-day computer, not by a 1970s typewriter.

An interesting bit of information is that Mary Mapes, the producer of the 60 Minutes segment, called Joe Lockhart, a top adviser for presidential candidate John Kerry, and insisted he get in touch with Burkett. Lockhart did call Burkett, but denies that any information regarding the National Guard documents was discussed.

Now, if a bunch of Internet bloggers and political commentators suspected these documents were fake, couldn't CBS and Rather? The answer is yes, they probably could, but their actions were motivated by a left-leaning political agenda. They rushed to get a story out they wanted so badly to be able to report.

Rather did apologize on the air a few weeks ago, but that apology seemed anything but sincere, and doesn't hide the fact that the man described as "the hardest working man in broadcast journalism" cannot report objectively. This incident is a major blemish on Rather's career, and the most honorable thing he could do now is to resign.