It Begins...



One day after the Episcopal Church made a move that has rocked the Anglican Church, leading to a massive protest within the convention of Episcopalians meeting in Minneapolis as reported by Rachel Zoll here. What does CBS Evening News lead off with tonight?



Kolbe Bryant you guess, nope that didn't make it.



Arnold's run for the CA governor, wrong again (Matt Drudge breaks this after breaking earlier that Arnie wouldn't run).



The crisis facing the Episcopal church, well of course? Again, not even close.



So what was the top story of the day? This:



Sex Crimes Cover-Up By Vatican?



From CBS news:



For decades, priests in this country abused children in parish after parish while their superiors covered it all up. Now it turns out the orders for this cover up were written in Rome at the highest levels of the Vatican.



CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales has uncovered a church document kept secret for 40 years.



The confidential Vatican document, obtained by CBS News, lays out a church policy that calls for absolute secrecy when it comes to sexual abuse by priests - anyone who speaks out could be thrown out of the church.



The policy was written in 1962 by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani.



The document, once "stored in the secret archives" of the Vatican, focuses on crimes initiated as part of the confessional relationship and what it calls the "worst crime": sexual assault committed by a priest" or "attempted by him with youths of either sex or with brute animals."



Bishops are instructed to pursue these cases "in the most secretive way...restrained by a perpetual silence...and everyone {including the alleged victim) ...is to observe the strictest secret, which is commonly regarded as a secret of the Holy Office...under the penalty of excommunication."



Larry Drivon, a lawyer who represents alleged victims, said, “This document is significant because it's a blueprint for deception.”



Drivon said the document proves what he has alleged on behalf of victims in priest-abuse lawsuits: that the church engaged in Mafia-style behavior -- racketeering.



“It's an instruction manual on how to deceive and how to protect pedophiles,” Drivon said. "And exactly how to avoid the truth coming out."



First of all this is hardly news at all. Knowledge of this document has been around for weeks. It is old and it may indeed be responsible for much of the cover-up that went on in a different day and time, but it is hardly the big story of the day. Why would CBS lead off with this when there is so much other big news today?



Read the first paragraph again of the news story. This is exactly the way it was read at the top of the newscast. Is that objective reporting? Is that what has been going on in the Catholic Church?