So was the doll eventually released, or, god forbid, was it executed?
It faced the magnifying glass at high noon. In the hot Iraqi desert, it didn’t last long. Thank Castle Greyskull for that at least. 
This thread has left me with two questions.
Why should anyone be fired? It’s not as if this harmed anyone. Sure, Scarlett was put under some stress, but she deserved it after the way she treated Duke, Shipwreck, and Quick Kick. And comparing this to memogate is a really big stretch.
Why put the Liberal media line into this discussion at all. It was an idiot mistake regarding a doll. Show me where politics figure in.
Let’s all just be glad they didn’t catch Buzz Lightyear or an Star Wars figures. Imagine that sort of technology in the wrong hands :eek:
I really DON’T think anyone SHOULD be fired, but then, I don 't think Rather shoulda been forced resign, or his crew, and he was and they were and so there’s blood in the water and fair is fair.
There wasn’t any cover-up in the CBS news incident, just a dogged refusal to face facts by people who shoulda known better. Rather was screwed, and I think it would be an excellent tonic for news organizations if they were forced to enact fair standards as to why people get fired, instead of going with just politics.
Not that that will ever happen.
And their addresses and phone numbers! 
The Dan Rather thing directly involved the reputation of the President - a Presidential candidate - in the middle of a heated election and required far more due diligence than the doll kidnapping. They are not equivalent.
Again, you mean like the “John Kerry has a secret mistress” bruhaha?
I’m not familiar with that bruhaha, so I can’t really commment.
I have not been following this that closely but did the fox etc. executives keep insisting that it was a real captive after doubts had been brought up about the web page? That was certainly my impression about what CBS did. I definitely think there is a big difference between the two.
Was this ever reported as news by any credible news source? I remember when this rumor was going around and I couldn’t find any information on it in any newspaper, on any TV channel (even the much vilified Fox), or on any credible Internet website.
Tom: snopes reports that an apology was posted from a 20 year old who said it was a joke: http://www.snopes.com/media/goofs/gijoe.asp (CNN makes reference to the apology posted on the original website too)
Yup, and various other smear tactics that were used.
I.e., your ox wasn’t gored.
In any event, the incident wasn’t exactly CENTRAL to the Presidential debate at the time. Definitely a tempest in a teapot. Definitely not worth firing over. I would say YMMV except that I strongly suspect political affiliations are what would cause the variation.
When you get right down to it, CBS’s actions in response to memogate were stupid. There is no reason why they needed to fire anybody. The execs probably got spooked by the huge volume of noise that right-wingers generated about the incident on the internet, and feared a backlash. But CBS News’ rating have done fine, and CBS overall has kicked ass this season. They’re mistake was to believe that a few people wailing a lot was equivalent to a lot of people wailing. CBS’s reputation has not suffered among people who watch CBS, which is really the only thing they should care about.
Likewise CNN and Faux News aren’t going to take any hits in the ratings for this incident so why should they care, much less fire anyone? They’ve already both reported as fact various fictions about the heroic glorious american military and the eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil insurgents so many times that surely no one who actually wants to know what’s really going on in Iraq is still watching them.