A controversy arose when a writer from a blog site (Blue Tidal Wave) submitted a story for consideration on Digg - which alleged that footage from a Katie Couric interview - was being "held back" to gain some advantage in the leverage game.
The writer, going by the moniker - The Saint - first lifted a quote from media critic Howard Kurtz, to jump-start his report.
"The worst may be yet to come for Palin. Sources say CBS has two more responses on tape that will likely prove embarrassing."
At this juncture, the Saint - less than Saintly judging by his scurrilous actions - proceeded to twist and distort the information to suit his own personal agenda.
According to the Times writer, David Sarno, the Saint took Kurtz's revelation and transformed it into an accusation of censorship replete with his own sounding board.
In short, here's what he posted.
"CBS evening news insiders say the censoring of the Palin interview was orchestrated by CBS news heads and Couric in an effort to show the McCain (!) campaign that they should choose the struggling nightly news program for their exclusive (!) interviews."
Well, for starters, there were enough red herrings in that little ditty to entice any super sleuth!
Sensing that Tidal Wave's tale of intrigue did not pass the smell test, either, the reporter at the daily followed up with a question or two of his own.
Ha! The Saint confessed.
The alleged CBS source was not that, at all.
The "insiders" fibber-boy was referring to - did not have any clout - and weren't heavyweights on the inside at CBS with privileged information, either.
"It was just a friend."
In addition, he admitted shame-faced the two only spoke "off-hand".
The icing on the cake?
"There never was any permission to cite a source."
When it comes right down to it, the Saint did not know if additional unused footage would be used at all, or if ever.
So, he put on his thinking cap, and dredged up the titillating accusation that the CBS camp was holding back footage with future strategies in mind.
It has since been determined that footage does exist; however, the wild scenario fathomed up by the Saint was nothing but a load of "hooey".
The truth of the matter is - Couric shot material separately for a "Questions" segment - which included a matching interview with Senator Joe Biden.
After chastising various individuals - and raising the issue of ethics in reporting -
David Sarno uttered up what is undoubtedly the quote of the day.
"If there's one thing you learn from reporting on the Web, it's to be careful what you swallow."
