But by midday, the Telegram had posted a revised version of the report, explaining:

"This article has been corrected from the version published in the newspaper and online Friday morning to reflect that Bill Burkett was referring to conversations with CBS when he said, 'They tried to convince me as to why I should give them the documents.' The earlier version incorrectly reported that he had discussed the documents with Joe Lockhart of the Kerry campaign."

While the retraction was good news for Lockhart and team Kerry, the Telegram let stand other Burkett claims against CBS and its star newsman, such as his complaint: "By his action and inaction, Dan Rather ruined my reputation in front of 70 million people."

Burkett also told the paper that he has suffered four seizures since being identified as CBS's source and that his home phone has been tapped.

Also on Friday, John Kerry biographer Douglas Brinkley issued a clarification of comments he made to the New York Times, which had been widely interpreted as a move by the author to trim his earlier claims that Kerry was a war hero.

"Every American now knows that there's something really screwy about George Bush and the National Guard, and they know that John Kerry was not the war hero we thought he was," Brinkley told the Times.

By Friday afternoon, however, he issued this clarification:

"A story in the September 24 New York Times leaves the false impression that I think John Kerry was not 'the war hero we thought he was.' Nothing could be further from the truth. He was a great American fighting man in Vietnam and deserved all of his medals. Over the past year I have vigorously defended Kerry's military record and will continue to do so."

Brinkley added, "My comment was meant to be about the political consequences of the anti-Kerry Swift boat attacks vs. the anti-Bush National Guard ones. I was speaking about public perceptions not my personal beliefs."

Editor's note: