During the 2004 presidential campaign, 60 Minutes producer Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) uncovers a story indicating that George W. Bush was AWOL while serving in the Texas Air National Guard. Receiving documents from Bush's former superior, Bill Burkett (Stacy Keach), and confirmation from Texas Lt. Governor Ben Barnes (Phillip Quast), Mapes airs the story in September. Soon Mapes and anchor Dan Rather (Robert Redford) come under fire as experts question the documents, Burkett's veracity and CBS's motivation.
As a small-time conservative blogger, I followed Rathergate closely, from Rather's initial broadcast to blogger Charles Johnson's investigation and CBS's humiliating apology. Conservatives still cite it as concrete evidence of the "liberal media." If politics played a role, one could also blame a rushed timetable and eagerness to break a story, without the requisite thoroughness. After all, 60 Minutes more recently aired a spurious story damaging to the Obama Administration.
Regardless, Truth walks an awkward tightrope. Vanderbilt shows Mapes' over-eagerness pursuing the story, which she'd dropped in 2000 for lack of evidence. Witnesses backtrack on testimony, while Burkett admits to misleading CBS. When CBS rounds on Burkett, his wife (Noni Hazlehurst) attacks them for shifting blame. CBS's corporate chiefs prove willing to dump Mapes and Rather to save face.
Here Truth hits a stumbling block. Truth's final third finds Mapes investigated by a review panel, chaired by ex-PA Governor Dick Thornburgh (Helmut Bakaitis) and pressured by Republican officials. Vanderbilt gives Mapes impassioned position speeches, arguing that reporting shouldn't be subject to political pressure. Surely this is the worst time to make that case? The "fake but accurate" defense doesn't wash; if CBS had a real story, they destroyed themselves with sloppy reportage.
Cate Blanchett, as always, is excellent: she's snappy, tough and resolute, whether questioning sources or facing down corporate flacks. Robert Redford, the screen's Bob Woodward himself, plays Dan Rather with his trademark integrity, unshaken and relentlessly honest. Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Elisabeth Moss play other investigators, without making strong impressions. Bruce Greenwood is a CBS producer, Dermot Mulroney a vicious lawyer.
Truth seems bafflingly wrongheaded. A better filmmaker could make this the anti-Spotlight: what happens when the media botches an important story? Instead, Truth decides to grandstand about a massive lapse in integrity. The argument doesn't work if the story undercuts its message.