An independent report has slammed the news division of CBS over a 60 Minutes Wednesday story on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.

CBS News senior VP Betsy West, 60 Minutes Wednesday executive producer Josh Howard and senior broadcast procucer Mary Murphy were all asked to resign. The report's producer, Mary Mapes, was fired. The correspondent, anchor Dan Rather, had already announced plans to step down as anchor of the network's flagship evening news bulletin, although he will continue to be employed by CBS.

The controversial report alleged that Bush disobeyed an order to attend a physical exam, and that friends of his family attempted to cover over flaws in his Air National Guard service. The report relied in large part on four documents that later turned out to have a questionable provenance. The independent report released today said that it was unable to confirm their authenticity, but heavily criticised CBS for not doing more thorough checking of their authenticity before airing the story.

The report also criticised CBS for what it termed a "rigid and blind" defence of the story for twelve days after questions about the documents' provenance moved from the blogosphere into the mainstream media.

"We deeply regret the disservice this flawed 60 Minutes Wednesday report did to the American public, which has a right to count on CBS News for fairness and accuracy," said CBS president Les Moonves.