NEW YORK (AFP) - The CBS television network was expected to acknowledge being misled over documents used in a report that raised questions over President George W. Bush`s Vietnam era military service.
Network sources said the wording of an official statement was "still being worked out."
Any admission that it was duped would be a major embarrassment for CBS after a week in which it forcefully defended the authenticity of the documents introduced by veteran anchor Dan Rather on the network`s flagship news programme "60 Minutes."
The memos, allegedly written by Bush`s commanding officer in the Texas National Guard in the 1970s, suggested political pressure was being exerted to "sugar coat" the future president`s service record.
The "60 Minutes" report also charged that Bush`s family connections had secured his assignment to the National Guard unit -- a posting that effectively spared him active duty in Vietnam.
Bush and his father, former president George H.W. Bush, are both on the record as denying asking for special treatment.
Since the report aired, questions have been raised over the authenticity of the memos, with numerous experts arguing the typeface could have been produced only by a modern-day word processor, not Vietnam War-era typewriters.
CBS reacted to the charges by insisting that the sentiment expressed in the memos was genuine, and called on the White House to respond to the specific questions raised by the report.
Bush referred to the documentation row for the first time in an interview Saturday with a local newspaper in New Hampshire.
"There are a lot of questions about the documents and they need to be answered," Bush said. "I think what needs to happen is people need to take a look at the documents, how they were created, and let the truth come out."
The service records of Bush and his Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry more than 30 years ago have become a volatile issue ahead of November`s presidential election, with both candidates seeking to portray themselves as more qualified to lead the country in the war on terror.
Kerry`s campaign has had to fend off an advertising campaign by a pro-Republican group claiming that the senator`s heroism under fire in Vietnam, for which he was decorated, had been over-exaggerated at best.
A pro-Democrat group responded with an ad suggesting that Bush had failed to fulfill his National Guard service requirements.
The memos presented on the "60 Minutes" programme carried the signature of lieutenant colonel Jerry Killian, who died in 1984.
But Killian`s widow, Marjorie Connell, quickly challenged their provenance, pointing out that her late husband did not type and was an admirer of the young Bush, considering him to be "an excellent aviator."
In an initial statement, CBS News had said the memos were "thoroughly examined" before the broadcast and their authenticity vouched for by independent experts.