THE GHOST LEAD: WHERE'S RATHER'S CORRECTION?

"The timing of this leak reeks to high heaven. Given the record of the Office of Independent Counsel, the timing is hardly surprising." -- White House spokesman Jake Siewert.

"You don't have to be a cynic to note that this has all the earmarks of a carefully orchestrated, politically motivated leak. The Republican-backed Robert Ray is sponsored by a three-judge panel that must periodically decide whether Ray's investigation should continue. This panel features two federal judges backed by the Jesse Helms wing of the Republican Party." -- Dan Rather, CBSNews.com, Aug. 17.

The "leak" in question was the report by The Associated Press, on the very day Vice President Al Gore was to accept his party's presidential nomination, that independent counsel Robert Ray had received judicial approval to impanel a grand jury to probe President Clinton's alleged perjury in the intertwined matters of Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones.

The news clearly fit the template already set in place by many within the national media, especially the notorious Dan Rather of CBS. That template has it that any mention of the Clintons and the re-impaneling of a grand jury had to be the result of a GOP-inspired "leak." Hence the White House line, echoed by the Gore campaign and in Rather's on-line column.

There was only one problem. Within a few days it transpired that the source of the leak -- inadvertently, he says, and we take him at his word -- was a federal judge appointed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Although more than a week has passed since the facts emerged, neither the White House nor Dan Rather has yet corrected the record.

Don't expect any such honorable action. Being a big-shot TV anchor, apparently, means never having to say you're sorry. No wonder CBS convention coverage, we now know, drew viewership at all-time lows.