Reply #47: The producer was wrongfully fired also. Perhaps you should [View All]

[sabrina 1]

read her book.

Of course they have the right to fire whoever they want, I have the right to walk under a moving train, but it isn't a good idea. That argument always gets to me. It doesn't take into account at all, what is right. Every employer has a 'right' to fire whoever he wants but a good employer doesn't use that right unless there is a good reason.

There was not only no good reason to fire either the producer or Dan Rather, there was a compelling reason, for the sake of a free press, to use all their resources to get to the bottom of one of the most egregious deceptions ever perpetrated by some of the most vile and dishonest individuals in the political arena today, to prevent the media from doing its job.

And their decision to fire these two people had a very chilling effect on what we have a right to, anyone else who might dare to pursue facts about public officials and uncover deceptions, such as the deception that Bush was a military hero, from even trying.

By not pursuing this story, the public did not just lose a good, honest reporter, we lost way more than that as the current excuse for news demonstrates.

But yes, CBS had a right to fire whoever they wanted to. That right trumped the rights of millions of people in this country, but if you want to stick to that defense of what they did, you have a right to do so and we have a right to vehemently disagree.

I hope Dan Rather wins big in this lawsuit. CBS needs to pay for what they did, although no amount of money can give him his reputation back, nor give us back whatever faith we still had in the media back then.