According to the Drudge Report, the following is a statement by the President of CBS News, Andrew Heyward:

We established to our satisfaction that the memos were accurate [not "authentic"] or we would not have put them on television. There was a great deal of coroborating [sic] evidence from people in a position to know. Having said that, given all the questions about them, we believe we should redouble our efforts to answer those questions, so that's what we are doing. [emphasis added]

Redouble what efforts? I thought CBS was standing by their story? Is CBS News launching an internal investigation? CBS has not identified what, exactly, they are looking into. Are they looking into the typographical questions? Are they reconfirming with those people who vouched for the documents? What are they doing? Most importantly, where is the transparency?

There is still no word on who the "expert" document examiners were who authenticated the documents. Guess we'll just have to take CBS's word that they exist.

There has still been no release of high quality copies of the documents, though CBS claims to have them. And what the heck did they send to their "experts"?

Dan Rather has apparently (according to a report by Howard Kurtz) interviewed Killian's secretary who claims the documents are fakes but represent the gist of contemporaneous conversations. See the Dallas Morning News (reg. req.), which engaged in actual journalism (Ex-aide disavows Bush Guard memos).

This would be the same secretary whose interview CBS has already responded to, according to the Seattle Times (Ex-Guard typist recalls memos on Bush):

CBS officials appeared jubilant over Knox's revelations. "While we do not believe that she is a documents expert," CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said, "it is exceptionally noteworthy that she supports the content of our story." [emphasis added]

One might wonder why CBS is going to ask someone they "do not believe ... is a documents expert" about the authenticity of the documents, especially when they have ignored responding to or talking with other experts who have raised legitimate concerns about the memos.

In any case, if she basically reiterates what she has told numerous other news organizations, CBS will do what, exactly? Continue to stonewall? You might also wonder why CBS doesn't believe the reporting of other news organizations about what the former secretary said. Are they not as trustworthy as Dan Rather?

As long as this fig leaf of "responsible journalism" is allowed to stand, this remains a Crisis in Journalism. Correction: CBS's response is an embarrasment to fig leaves.

For a humorous note, see the top ten statements CBS was considering: Top Ten CBS Statements Planned for Today.