Emotional Rather blasts 'new journalism order'

[kskiska]

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather said Monday that there is a climate of fear running through newsrooms stronger than he has ever seen in his more than four-decade career.

(snip)

Addressing the Fordham University School of Law in Manhattan, occasionally forcing back tears, he said that in the intervening years, politicians "of every persuasion" had gotten better at applying pressure on the conglomerates that own the broadcast networks. He called it a "new journalism order."

He said this pressure -- along with the "dumbed-down, tarted-up" coverage, the advent of 24-hour cable competition and the chase for ratings and demographics -- has taken its toll on the news business. "All of this creates a bigger atmosphere of fear in newsrooms," Rather said.

(snip)

Nevin asked Rather if he felt the same type of repressive forces in the Nixon administration as in the current Bush administration.

"No, I do not," Rather said. That's not to say there weren't forces trying to remove him from the White House beat while reporting on Watergate; but Rather said he felt supported by everyone above him, from Washington bureau chief Bill Small to then-news president Dick Salant and CBS chief William S. Paley.

"There was a connection between the leadership and the led . . . a sense of, 'we're in this together,"' Rather said. It's not that the then-leadership of CBS wasn't interested in shareholder value and profits, Rather said, but they also saw news as a public service. Rather said he knew very little of the intense pressure to remove him in the early 1970s because of his bosses' support.

more…
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/20/MTFH18190_2005-09-20_03-11-20_FLE011365.html

[MADem]

1. He has got that right

Gone are the days when your editor would back you when you spoke truth to power, and the heads of TV newsrooms would run with the story regardless of the feelings of corporate bosses. There used to be a firm bright light between the "news divisions" and the entertainment arms of networks, and the corporate slugs knew that they'd be shut down if they tried to buck honest reportage.

Unfortunately, now they are all cowards and servants to the almighty dollar--they've sold their souls, even PBS. Get those two ton grains of salt out when you watch the news, because everything comes through a massive filter of greed and bullshit.

The only hope is that they respond to market share. If enough people cry 'bullshit' and change the channel, that cuts their profit and shapes their approach.

But we can never truly trust them again. Sad, sort of...

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

8. Those days are...

...gone alright:

http://www.karlandkinggeorge.com/Daddy_Called.html

[Trevelyan]

21. PART FOUR: DEMOCRACY, GENERAL ELECTRIC STYLE

http://makethemaccountable.com/coverup/Part_04.htm

THE MEDIA COVER-UP OF THE GORE VICTORY
PART FOUR: DEMOCRACY, GENERAL ELECTRIC STYLE

By David Podvin and Carolyn Kay

Shortly after George W. Bush declared his candidacy for president in June of 1999, General Electric Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch was contacted by Bush political advisor Karl Rove. Welch later informed associates that Rove told him a Bush administration would initiate comprehensive deregulation of the broadcast industry. Rove guaranteed that deregulation would be implemented in a way that would create phenomenal profits for conglomerates with significant media holdings, like GE. Rove forcefully argued that General Electric and the other media giants had a compelling financial interest to see Bush become president.

Welch told several people at GE that the conversation with Rove convinced him that a Bush presidency would ultimately result in billions of dollars of additional profits for General Electric. Welch believed that it was his responsibility to operate in the best interest of GE shareholders, and that now meant using the full power of the world’s biggest corporation to get Bush into the White House.

Toward that end, Welch said that he would finally deal with a longstanding grievance of his: the ludicrous idea that news organizations should be allowed to operate in conflict with the best interests of the corporations that own them.

Since the beginning of the country, it has been considered appropriate for the business community to exercise its right to aggressively support the candidate that best represented its interests. The new dimension that Welch introduced was the concept that the mainstream media should aggressively advance the political agenda of the corporations that own it. He did not see any difference between corporate journalism and corporate manufacturing or corporate service industries. Business was business, and the difference between winners and losers was profit, whether you were selling nuclear power or ads on the network news. From Welch’s perspective, it was insanity, not to mention bad business practice, for the corporate owners of the mainstream media to restrain themselves from using all of their assets to promote their financial well being.

In general, he saw corporate news organizations as untapped political resources that should be freed from the burden of objectivity. Specifically, NBC News was an asset owned by the shareholders of General Electric. It existed to make profits and to serve the interests of those who owned GE stock. Period.

Anything else, Welch told associates, was “liberal bullshit”.

In 1988, NBC News president Lawrence Grossman insisted to Welch that news was a public trust and should not be subjected to the same pressure to make profits that was applied to other GE units. Welch fired him.

......But the mainstream media organizations did lie.

Some people have expressed skepticism that at least one intrepid corporate reporter has not revealed the truth about what transpired in 2000. If the charges of the mainstream media coordinating an effort at the highest levels to skew their campaign coverage in favor of Bush were true, the skeptics contend, then certainly one reputable mainstream reporter would have gone public with the story.

Daniel Schorr has been enshrined in the Hall of Fame of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 1976, he was fired by CBS News when he sent a secret congressional intelligence report to the Village Voice after CBS had refused to reveal the story to the public. According to Schorr, he was punished by network executives who had
reached a deal with the White House to go easy on the administration.

Schorr was fired for reporting the truth when it conflicted with the interests of his employer.

[ClintonTyree]

49. This is why we need people like Ted Turner, George Soros....

Al Gore and anyone else who CARES about our country to form a completely independent news source. A news source not beholding to corporate shareholders and dedicated to the truth, wherever the chips may fall. If they catch dirty Dems, report it, the same with dirty Slugs (are there any clean ones?) and everyone else along the line.

If the people of this country knew what was really going on they'd never elect another republican. Please, someone DO THIS! We're relying on the "inernets" to find the truth, but it's not reaching enough people.

With the truth, all things are possible.

[1932]

64. We can't rely on good rich people to offset bad rich people.

We need a system that doesn't allow financial power to determine what people know.

We need a well-regulated marketplace that operates for the benefit of the vast majority of people. We need to elect good democrats to legislate that world.

That way, no single wealthy powerful person will be able to control society's consciousness.

[Uncle Joe]

53. Thanks for the link, I have bought my last G.E. Product.

Apparently Benedict Welch and his cronies have decided G.E. is more important than the American People. I always thought they had it in for Gore because he democratized information when he championed the internet. Benedict Welch and the other corpwhorate CEOs give new meaning to the word pig, with their lust for money and power, they have betrayed the nation and sold their souls.

[rfranklin]

37. There has always been censorship from the outside...

Advertisers, powerful people and friends of the publisher have always had the ability to censor newspapers and magazines. Usually when there was some expose of the elite, it was because someone else more powerful gave the go ahead.

[Carolab]

2. Now that only six corporations "own" the media, times are indeed different

and we are officially operating under a Ministry of Propaganda via the White House and its corporate ties.

Until/unless those corporate ties feel the ship is officially sinking they will continue to catapult the lies.

[Turn CO Blue]

20. Do you happen to have a link to share that shows that...

that it boils down to six giant corpo-glomerates owning the media? (I am also seeking any links to scholarly articles about who owns large percentages of print media and newspapers.)

I have read that assertion many times on DU, and I want to have that available for debate with this certain person I know who still (somehow) thinks that the 24-hour news channels represent good journalism. (gag)

I'd appreciate it!

[yodermon]

32. Here are a few.

http://www.thenation.com/special/bigten.html (2001 article)
http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/ - "Who Owns What"
http://www.corporations.org/media/ - lots of links there.

[sarcasmo]

56. That is the definition of Corporate Fascism, correct?

[baron j]

59. Here is a map in pdf format titled "Who Owns the Network News"

http://www.thehemperor.net/nontesters/thehemperor/usmedia.pdf

[leveymg]

28. Times are different? Sure, a lot of us have turned them off. That's good.

Look at the Gretna Bridge Incident. More than two weeks later, the networks still haven't reported it. NPR just got around to it. Would the MSM treat the 1963 march over the Selma Bridge this way, if it happened today?

The NYT waited more than a week to confirm what had been widely reported on the web about the Gretna sheriffs firing to scatter New Orleans residents who were trying to flee the rising waters. A first-hand account appeared initally at a Bay Area labor site on day six. I believe DKOS was the first major website to feature it, and I was among those who reposted it and several related stories at DU. The story spread around the web. It took a week more for a wire service (UPI) to issue a report confirming the story, and a day later it showed up in the Grey Lady, after The NY Daily News scooped it.

Is it the subject matter, which is a race and class-based abuse of police power that had fatal effect? Was everyone waiting for the initial witnesses, white paramedics, to be checked out and found credible? Or, the fact that the story originated outside the narrow loop of recognized journalism? If anyone has the time to write it, this would make an interesting feature story.

Does this story mark the emergence of an influential progressive media, as the corporate news agencies abandon on-the-ground coverage under pressure from nervous executives and Pentagon censors? If that's the case, we're finally in a position to shape the really important issues.

While election fraud in 2000 and 2004 stories were largely born in the blogosphere, the Gretna Bridge incident moves web-based reporting into the mainstream. This confirms it. Bloggers are now first to identify important news, as well as the most trustworthy part of the news media.

Dan is welcome to join us.

[Helga Scow Stern]

3. Nominated. Glad to hear him speak out, finally.

[roguevalley]

6. he's done this several times since retiring. he's a good man, our dan.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

36. eg this 2002 interview on the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/archive/2029634.stm

[firefox]

4. Only the delusional can be happy.

His statements are more important than the total reporting today on the CBS Evening News. It sure is telling that he could not say that in his final days as anchor.

It reminds me of Hugh Downs, the most televised person ever, when he left 20/20. He was on television more than anyone else and they asked him on his last appearance if he had anything to say. He would say they need to let up on medical marijuana. Now why could this man not say that or report on the issue in all those years?

We have a controlled media that filters out some subjects. Part of the Internet's response is Project Censored. Here are the top 25 censored stories of 2003- http://tinyurl.com/ck7ye - and 2004- http://tinyurl.com/997jq

Our national debate needs to address the fascism that rules us. In the 14 points of fascism- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=592344 - "Controlled mass media" is #6. Now ask yourself when was the last time you saw anything on the subject of the War on Drugs or the legalization of laughing grass? The Cannabis Perspective tells us we have a controlled media. A controlled media is indicative of fascist rule.

I printed out the 16 pages of Robert Kennedy's recent speech at a friends house so I could read him the part expressing the control of the 6 media companies. My only point was that we have a controlled media and that anyone that goes around talking "liberal media" is too dumb to listen to and that they would do us all a favor if they just wrote "dumb" on their forehead. If anyone says "liberal media" to me, I am quite rude and cut them off and I do not mind telling them they do not know what they are talking about. "Liberal media" is the litmus test for reality in today's America.

It is great to hear the ring of truth from Rather's statements. We just need more bell.

[John Q. Citizen]

5. Rather and Cronkite were willing to tell it

like they saw it and let the chips fall where they may. They exemplified journalistic integrity.

[Helga Scow Stern]

7. I'll never forget Rather's tortured face on election night, 2004.

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. Recommended. Thank you for this - I'm glad to hear from Mr. Rather. n/t

[Freedomfried]

10. Well he sure sucked up to chimpy after they already destroyed his career

if your going to pretend you have balls Mr.Rather, pretend that they're big balls.

[saracat]

12. He hasn't sucked up to anybody. Dan Rather is a gentleman

and a "real" journalist. And he doesn't have to "pretend" to have "big balls". His career speaks for itself.

[Freedomfried]

14. NO, Dan jumped right on the party line as he was going down

but he was too late, he set the cause way back and was a huge liability for Mr. Kerry.

I liked and respected Mr. Rather too, I grew up with him reading the news of the day.

But his exit was shameful.

[CottonBear]

30. What was shameful was how KKKRove smeared Rather's integrity & honesty.

The exit was forced by the Bu$h administration and CBS "News" because Rather reported (*gasp*) the TRUTH.

[saracat]

71. Nonsense, and BTW, his info was NEVER proven false.

[jwirr]

63. HE was the only journalist that bothered to TRY. When

they set him up he knew when to back off. Long before the "false" papers showed up he gave interviews to British papers telling us what was happening in the US. None of the rest had the balls to do that. The older journalists like him were not in a position to tell them to go to hell. They would have been fired in NO position to talk to anyone about anything.

[Autumn Colors]

11. And that pressure goes both ways

When Howard Dean went on Hardball and said that his first act as President would be to break up the big media conglomerates, I knew his presidential bid was doomed... and it only took the media ONE WEEK after that to assassinate his candidacy.

[fudge stripe cookays]

18. Yeah, I loved him so much.

I wish he'd kept his mouth shut about that.

He should have gone for stealth; gotten in THEN done it. You can't let these bastards in our your next move. They'll checkmate you every time.

fsc

[Missy M]

13. I'm happy to hear Dan Rather is speaking out about the ......

decline of journalism. It is sad when the politicians apply pressure to the conglomerates and they succumb to it. I do think the tide is turning with the internet playing a big role in getting out the news and allowing ALL views to be published. My fear is, how long before the big conglomerates persuade the politicians to put regulations, taxes, etc. on the internet.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Again, this climate of fear started at the local level.

Here in Orlando, the juicy articles regarding political corruption started tapering off somewhere in the 80s. Prior to that I could find loads of articles talking about conflicts of interests with engineering firms and also individuals who were galvanizing and forming private organizations such as CLEO "Community Leaders Elected Offiials." They were property rights nutcases. The Orlando Sentinel wrote about two or three articles on the organization, then suddenly, in the mid 80s, all those articles just stopped. An organization that attracts state and local officials for barbecues once a month, and most people in Central Florida don't even know its existence unless they're involved in business organizations.

It's like certain counties have protective status, and the Orlando Sentinel will not report on any of the local good ole boy activities in that county.

I'm even wondering what ramifications I'm going to face just for writing about it on the net.

[Evergreen Emerald]

16. He was a force in the business

And he had the opportunity to show courage in the face of the neo-con pressure.

I have seen very few people have the courage to stand up to this White House.

He is one, like McCain, like Powell, who could have--should have stood up and voiced the reality of their agenda. Instead, his lack of courage, or his want for more money, or his need to remain on top, kept him complacent--and he had a hand in changing our free press into a propaganda mouth-piece for the neo-cons.

We need more people in power with courage.

[hatrack]

17. Shouldn't that be "New Order Journalism"

I'm just sayin . . .

[Carolab]

70. Actually, "New WORLD Order Journalism", to be precise. n/t

[Paradise]

19. thanks. n/t

[Trevelyan]

22. Sign the MediaChannel petition to Keep the Light on Injustice

We say: If there was ever a time for investigative reporting, it is now!Here's what you can do to help:

Sign the MediaChannel petition to Keep the Light on Injustice and help us bring this message to every news outlet in America.Write and call your local media outlets and prominent journalists. Tell them about this campaign and demand to know whether they will pursue these issues or return to focusing on cheery features about babies born during the disaster and good Samaritans.

Invite political leaders to join this call for continued media nresponsibility. In a time when moral atrophy and complicity in injustice constitute political business as usual, we need a caring and aggressive press. We need the press to press the government to act. We need to press the press and move the media. We need to
Keep the Light on Injustice.


ADD YOUR SIGNATURE TO THIS PETITION

http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/934

Dear MediaChannel reader and Media for Democracy member:

MediaChannel was happy to find one silver lining to Hurricane Katrina, and that was the performance of some prominent journalists and TV anchors. After years of bowing to power, members of the mainstream news media seemed to return to their roots with "born again" fervor challenging government ineptitude, reporting on warnings that went unheeded, and even expressing outrage over the
situation.

It's about time!

We who have been so disillusioned by the recent decline of the mainstream media were heartened to see how some news outlets dissected government spin and exposed the depths of the poverty and despair in New Orleans. We were pleased to watch and read reporting on race and class issues that had all but disappeared from contemporary journalism.

However, with tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes, and the threat of a toxic nightmare blanketing the region, this crisis is far from over. Rescue workers are still counting the bodies as new storms threaten.We must encourage media outlets to stay on the case and keep probing. This is not a one-day or one-week story; it is an ongoing situation, and it is the follow-up that counts.

We say: KEEP THE LIGHT ON INJUSTICE!

We're happy to give credit where it's due, and MediaChannel's new campaign acknowledges that the light of media responsibility has been switched on again. And we applaud that. But we need to make sure that light stays on and gets brighter. And we need your help to do it. Join us as we press journalists and news outlets to continue to:

Monitor...
the delivery of relief efforts and funds, and tell us if they are getting to the people most in need. How well are agencies like the Red Cross and the military performing? How much of the money and goods donated are actually reaching the victims?

Evaluate...
the process for reconstruction and renewal. The people who are most affected must be included in the planning efforts. Citizen journalism must be encouraged to help prevent more injustice.

Determine...
whether the real victims will be compensated for their loss and pain and suffering.

Investigate...
whether the foreign aid coming into America is being well-spent. Which organizations, countries and agencies are being turned away and why? Who is profiting from this disaster? Let's find out now ? not in five years.

Assess...
who should be held accountable. It is time to clean house of all the officials and bureaucrats guilty of criminal neglect and complicity in this shameful performance.

President Bush has announced that he will lead an investigation into what went wrong. There are already too many foxes guarding the chicken coops. We need a hard-hitting and sustained independent media investigation, not another cover-up, not another exercise in blame, not more spin.

[Skittles]

23. you can bet the little freeper shits approve of this atmosphere of fear

and the more tarted up dumbed down it is, the more it appeals to conservatives

[cwydro]

35. you are so right

Ann Coulter et al perfect examples...and all the fox freepers

[Teena]

24. Watch the videos...

of Building Seven of the World Trade Center complex when it falls. It is Dan Rather's voice you hear in his news broadcast as he says it looks just like the controlled demolitions we have seen before.
Mr. Rather had some problems with previous administrations and in his personal life before this, but I think his comment about what was clearly controlled demolition sealed his fate as a marked man with the Bush administration. There was no way that he would get anywhere with his story - even though it was true - about Bush being AWOL when he should have been reporting for his duties as a Texas Air National Guardsman.

[jean]

29. that would be a good video to get online - does anyone have it?

[TankLV]

52. It was not "clear" at all that it was a "controlled demolition".

It was a figure of speech.

As a practicing Architect, my and EVERY OTHER PRACTICING ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT says it was NOT a controlled demolition.

[recleb]

55. Um...

Re: "...my and EVERY OTHER PRACTICING ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT says it was NOT ..."

As a practicing structural engineer, this blanket statement is certainly news to me. Got any references or citations for it?

[drone]

25. Net work news

This is the reason I have not viewed a network newscast in 10 months.
I felt they were in fear or being rewarded. The public is slow or unwilling to face facts; eventually it becomes obvious even to the slowest.

[ClintonTyree]

50. How right you are.......

it's been years for me as well and now I won't even watch the cable "news". I get all of my news here on the "internets", at least I'M the one that separates fact from fiction and not some fat, rich bastard in a corporate boardroom.

And welcome to DU! Where the heck have you been, we've been waiting for you! ;) :hi:

[Stand and Fight]

26. This part is very telling and frightening...

"Nevin asked Rather if he felt the same type of repressive forces in the Nixon administration as in the current Bush administration.

'No, I do not,' Rather said."

[blossomstar]

27. I miss Dan Rather so badly it hurts! He was literally my ANCHOR!

[LibDemAlways]

31. My only quarrel about this is his comment

about politicians "of every persuasion" strong arming the networks. If only the Dems had the will and the spine to do it. I've seen no evidence since before Clinton that the Dems had any clout with the networks at all.

[fooj]

33. "They were willing to speak truth to power."

IMO, that says it all.


Peace.

[AspenRose]

34. God bless Dan Rather

Wonder if he commiserates with fellow Texan Bill Moyers much these days....

I've a cousin in the media and she is of the opinion that the Bush Administration runs things like the mafia.

[Arkana]

44. Rather's from Texas?

Wow, I learn something new every day.

[mom cat]

38. He speaks for the real majority!

[adaada]

39. With huge corporations now controlling everything, what can be done?

[Griffy]

46. ALOT! BE the MEDIA.. word of mouth... print flyers.. go to meetings..

granted the MSM would be the fastest and easiest way to inform the public, but it is not the only way.. word of mouth is very powerful but slow, and I dare say the word is getting out... the emperor has no clothes!

I speak to everyone that calls me.. I work it into chat at the store and everywhere I go. It is up to us, we are the heros we have been waiting for! Make it your goal to inform everyone you can, friends, family, stangers... Politics can NOT BE TABOO to discuss any more... I usually talk to people about the media 1st, worded to not show my position. I find just about everyone suspects the news is lying or misleading.... I then point out that propaganda is happening right now (Armstrong Williams, Jeff Gannon) and the media is distracting (Aruba BS while congress passed bankruptcy laws that can hurt us all) the people from the truth (Iraq no WMDs or 911 ties, rigged elections, looting the treasury, cronyism).

You will find the more you do this, the better you get, the more refined your argument, better examples and the more impact you can have in a short time.

... and always leave them with info or where to go for truth. (DU, AAR, truthout, rawstory, democracy now, The nation, MJ, ect...) The truth is out, we see it, talk to others, point them to the light... because once they see the light.... they wont go back!

and finally.... tell them you need there help too. Once they educate themselves, tell them we need them to join you in talking to others.... this is the part that really makes this work. Even if only 1 in 100 takes on the cause... the growth is still exponential as more and more people are talking. I can see it happening as I meet people that know whats up!

We will take this country back!!

Welcome to DU! :)

[adaada]

48. What an inspiring post! Thank you, Griffy.

Makes me want to jump up and run out the door and start talking! You ought to start a new thread with the message you have written here in it.

[Griffy]

54. I have from time to time... I have been on the radio saying the same thing

that we must talk to everyone we can.. be kind, be polite, be ACCURATE and PERSISTANT! ... heres a fun 1...

Answer the phone "Impeach george W bush" ... I have a line that only gets tellamarketers (use cell with everyone that knows me..) and I answer it like that... often the marketer will pause and then go into there script. I say did you hear me?... I tell them I will listen to there offer if they listen to me too. I tell them I work for citizens for truth and we are working to inform the public of the serious problems we have with our media and propaganda. I often use the Schivo thing to point out how important the facts, i.e coma is not the same as braindead! And if I though it she was in a coma I would have been angry at pulling life support, but facts matter! and fox lies and told millions that she was alert (talking, following a balloon...)
The key is to get them to listen American (ask if there are in the USA 1st) to American... let them know you are doing this not for money, but to bring knowledge to the people!

I dont say its easy.. it takes guts! Freeps think we are wimps... show them they are wrong and we will FIGHT for what we believe in!

BE the MEDIA!

[adaada]

58. Love it! This is how to defeat them!

[farmbo]

40. The scariest thing about his speech: no one in the MSM carried it!

Breitbart.com is a swell enough blog, but isn't it apparent that Rather's story is getting the whole, chilling censorship treatment from the MSM.


First, they ignore you...

[bliss_eternal]

41. I'm so pleased to see this.

It is a profound statement, coming from a veteran journalist. I hope some of the other msm gets wind of him speaking out and DOES something.

[Arkana]

42. Rather is spot on.

He knows that the news "media" has turned into a parody of itself.

[praisethelowered]

43. The funny thing is that a real news service could easily start up

. . . and take the largest market share. People are hungry for real investigative journalism. Thats why blogs have become such a prevalant source of news. The only problem is that the airwaves are not considered public anymore so there is no access for competition.

ANY of the big news services could double thier ratings in about a month if they actually started reporting the news and investigating instead of following FOX in a race to the bottom.

I guess profits for the news division are less important than profits for the parent company - i.e. Who cares if you could win all of the market share with real news if it might turn people against the war profiteering of GE?

[savemefromdumbya]

45. A country of the corporations, by the corporations for the corporations!!!

Rather seems surprised?

[scdusek]

47. "Tarted Up"???

I think he probably said "'tarded up" as in "retarded." That's the perfect term to describe the 24 hour news channels.

[Buns_of_Fire]

51. "Tarted up" is an older phrase...

It was used, literally, to mean a woman who over-makeuped and over-sexily-dressed in an attempt to look alluring -- to look like a "tart" (which I think, in England, is a woman of questionable/loose morals).

Its figurative meaning is like to overdo it, to take it to the max, to add a little more pizzaz (or more "POW!" as Emeril might put it).

I think that's about it, anyway. I know I heard it from my parents when I wore my tightest pants and three gallons of Hai Karate before a big date.

Either interpretation works, though, for the MSM. :-)

(Edited because I seem to have lost any ablity I ever had to spell and/or punctuate anything. And so it goes...)

[LiberalinNC]

57. I will forever believe Rather was set up!

Rather was/is too liberal/progressive for W and his asswipes.

[Fluffdaddy]

60. Yep set-up. But He was the one that bit into the poison K. Rove apple.

Can you say K. Rove ? I knew you could

He should have had his people triple check the sources. in my opinion this was a Rove Set-up Move. And Rather and most of us fell for it

[LiberalinNC]

61. Agree w/ you! Rove the master manipulator!!!

[Voltaire99]

62. Let's not lionize this decrepit sell-out.

He hardly deserves it. Rather himself helped make US journalism's surrender possible.

For years, his mute acquiescence to the corporate molding of news passed without note because he earned one of the highest salaries in the business.

In fact, there is an important correlation between Rather's wealth and the wider rot. Several years ago, when CBS was going through hard times, reporting staff sizes were slashed even as Rather's salary soared. Reduced resources for news gathering has been one pitfall along the path to even more mediocre and complacent product, and it was pointed out then that CBS could reduce its star's salary and keep everyone on staff. This is but one reason he is widely hated in the profession.

As for political pressure, well, Rather kept his trap shut about that as long as he was Big Daddy and the going was good. Now he wants to style himself as a guardian of news? Really, it's like listening to the retired CEO of a major polluter complain about acid rain spoiling the golf course.

[Mr_Spock]

65. Blame the victim.

It's easy to do - look at how well the Repukes do it.

[xray s]

66. This from the guy that stood mute as CBS spiked the Niger story

I guess that 60 Minutes story on the Niger uranium document forgeries is still sitting in the can. If it hasn't been erased all together.

Rather decided to run Rove's planted forged TANG document story instead.

Cry me a river, Dan.

[SlowDownFast]

67. Rather was the Last Lonely Eagle....

Dan Rather represents the last bastion of real journalism and reporting before the neo-CON takeover of the mainstream media.

Rather got Roved and punked and that was no way for a 35+ year news anchor to go out.

For god's sake, man, the guy neutrally covered the Viet Nam. By his 'neutrality' he showed the American people the truth.

Those who smeared him must be taken out and rightfully smeared themselves...

[paineinthearse]

68. "dumbed-down, tarted-up"

:rofl:

From the Boston perspective.....



A sad day in journalism.

[Blue_Tires]

69. nominated/kicked n/t