Ratherrhia Flows

First, let's define the term.

Ratherrhia (n) -- A neurosis evidenced by the expelling of hundreds of pages attempting to deny or ignore the obvious.

And, yes, CBS suffers from it, as evidenced by the white-grey-or-beige-washing offered up in the Thornburgh report. But really, could we have expected anything else? You have some Organization Men reviewing the behavior of Organization Men and the result is some women get fired. You have CBS, which has voiciferously denied its obvious bias for decades, denying that even the report's mild hints at bias exist.

And you have the media eager to accept the results, as explained at Sue Bob's Diary, where Sue Bob has been tracking what the Society of Professional Journalists has been saying about this since Day One. Here's how Irwin Gratz, the president of that august society, responded to the report:

Perhaps the only silver lining is the report's conclusion that the panel "does not believe that political motivations drove the September 8 Segment." However, given the subject matter and the timing, those who believe it was politically motivated are unlikely to be convinced of this. It is why, in journalism, nothing quells suspicion like facts. CBS found too few to support its Sept. 8 story. And while appointment of a new "standards executive" is a constructive step, the lessons of the independent panel will have to be followed by all CBS News personnel to be truly effective.

Sue Bob adds that she doesn't know where Gratz got the bolded quote: "According to Powerline, the panel concluded on page 211: 'The Panel does not find a basis to accuse those who investigated, produced, vetted or aired the segment of having a political bias.'"