I prefer not to be wrong, but when I am I like to be the first to admit it. Therefore, I’m happy to say that I was way too skeptical in my initial assessment of the CBS News Public Eye blog. Vaughn Ververs is proving to be adept at managing conflicts between CBS critics and management, and his latest report shows he is not willing to pull punches. When Cam Edwards spotted “60 Minutes” anchor Mike Wallace speaking in favor of gun control at a Brady Center fundraiser, he asked Ververs whether CBS News would let Wallace cover gun control in the future. At first, Wallace tried to play off his appearance at the fundraiser as just doing a favor for a friend. But Ververs looked into the story further, and here’s what he found:

When I first addressed this issue, it was with mixed feelings. I sympathized with Wallace and the explanation he provided me for his appearance. He emphasized what he saw as his humorous approach to his comments and his focus on his very good friend’s 80th birthday party. But I also found the fact he had brought a video addressing the gun issue to be troubling.
I have since seen some of Wallace’s remarks and am far less conflicted. In introducing the video, Wallace calls Heston the “self-righteous enemy of the Sarah and Jim Brady bunch.” Coming out of the video, he mocks Heston’s widely-seen comments that the government would take away his gun only from his “cold, dead hands.” And he referenced, we assume, the relatively unkown position on gun control of Chief Justice John Roberts, calling him part of “the legions of the already convinced.”
Wallace told me his appearance was “meant to be and was received as a joke.” If so, it was one that was out of my range of humor. Others present at the event stressed to me the relative lack of discussion over gun control or the Second Amendment, saying the primary focus by far was Buchwald’s birthday. I have not seen a tape of the entire event but have no reason to doubt that. Even so, Wallace did make reference to the issue in a way that made him identifiable with one side of this issue.
I trust [CBS veep Linda] Mason and CBS News to carry through with the pledge to turn down a Wallace story if there is a conflict involving his Brady Center appearance. It is the right thing to do. And I have no doubt that we’ll hear about it if that does not happen.

Here’s Cam’s take on Ververs’ response. Both Cam and Ververs deserve credit for taking on this issue. And I deserve a helping of crow. Even though I disagree with Ververs sometimes, he’s not letting CBS management keep him from taking on some big battles.