Mary Mapes made a name for herself behind the camera as an award-winning journalist and eventual producer for CBS' 60 Minutes, on which she worked with star reporter Dan Rather, but now she finds herself the subject of a feature film, Truth. In Truth , Mapes is played by Cate Blanchett, placing the reporter in front of the camera in a major way, but raises the question: where is Mary Mapes now? After all, Truth tells the story of Mapes' 2004 firing from CBS News, which stemmed from a heavily-criticized, and possibly forged, report by Rather questioning then-President George W. Bush's military service record (the report suggested that Bush had left active duty in the National Guard after failing to appear at an ordered physical, and accused higher-ups in the military of looking the other way because of the Bush family name). So it's natural to wonder what happened to the woman at the center of it all.
When the report, produced by Mapes, occurred, it was seen as an indictment of the President, the military and privilege. After the special aired, however, the story fell apart as documents that provided the evidence were attacked as being forgeries. Internal investigations found that the documents were, in fact, likely fake (though their authenticity was never officially determined) and Mapes was promptly fired, along with three other executives. The scandal, commonly referred to as "Memogate" or "Rathergate," is still largely associated with Mapes, who never returned to network news. So where is she now?
Despite Mapes and Rather's insistence that their report was flawed, but accurate, the story remains a hot scandal in the journalism world. After Mapes left 60 Minutes, she was either unable or unwilling to return to network news. Instead, the journalist works as a writer — Mapes contributed to the news magazine The Nation in 2007 and 2008 — and earns a living as a consultant.
"It has been a difficult transition, but I really value my long career in journalism and I look back very fondly on the bulk of my time at CBS," Mapes said in an interview with Variety. "I like to say that I had 15 great years and five bad months there," she added.
So while she may still best be known as a journalist for "Rathergate," it's clear that Mapes doesn't let the 2004 scandal color her entire memory of working in network news.
