Dan Rather slams Katie Couric and tabloid media coverage as "criminal"

[Herman Munster]

http://newsbusters.org/stories/dan_rather_bashes_katie_couric.html

I do want to say that, I think, under Rick Kaplan, that they have tried to harden up the broadcast in recent days, but that is a relative phrase, harden it up. That, you know, the trend line continues, as I say, dumbing it down, tarting it up, going to celebrity coverage rather than war coverage. I couldn't feel stronger, Joe, and I know from listening to you, that you feel the same way, this war, it's a terrible war. We’ve let the people who are fighting the war down. I pent the weekend sort of brooding, and brooding something not my nature, as Mika will tell you, brooding about the fact that we’ve put these young people in the position in Iraq every day where they face dangers, unspeakable dangers. They're out there in the wind and sand, you know, and in the mud and the rain, and we let them down, and the idea that in news that the war is inside, inside news, not front page news is border-line criminal."

[Deja Q]

1. I saw Katiepoo on "60 Minutes" last night. Did she have a stick growing out of her butt?

[BornagainDUer]

54. She is one weird puppy. Her glare and attempt at gravitas while

never doing anything substantitive leads me to believe she has agreed with the fascisti to toe the line.

[Cleita]

2. Dan may have the last laugh yet and air head cheerleader Katie is

very much out of her element in hard news. Christianne Amanpour would have been a much better choice, but I don't think Christianne was happy with the tabloidization of the news either.

[Supersedeas]

6. tabloid news ain't selling either -- neither are Katie's penciled on lips

[pacalo]

21. Want to see Katie without her penciled-on lips? ***fair warning: not for the squeamish***

[Clark2008]

22. Wow - they look like average American women.

Who'd-a-thunk it?

[pacalo]

24. Feels pretty good to see it, doesn't it?

But I can't picture Katie saying "Navy Seals rock" without having had her face made up, can you?

[Clark2008]

25. Picturing Katie saying "Navy Seals Rock" again makes me look

like this: :puke:

[colorado_ufo]

40. Adorable! congrats!

[Just-plain-Kathy]

42. Clark2008...What a beautiful baby!! ...I hope you're feeling well. ..n/t

[entanglement]

34. Congratulations, Clark2008

:party:

A :toast: to the precious new arrival

[Turbineguy]

38. Look at those cheeks!

I love babies!

[knitter4democracy]

31. They're still pretty. Pretty nasty comments on there.

Uma Thurman still looks fabulous, and so do the rest. They look better without makeup than I do, that's for sure.

[marshall]

32. Is Katie a tart, or is the news tarty?

I wish Dan would elaborate whether he is accusing her of showing too much leg and bosom and painting her face, or is her selection of news and manner of reporting making the news itself tarty?

Then again, I guess he meant both.

[kath]

33. How come guys in our culture are thought to look fine just the way they are,while women are expected

to pile on tons of makeup, and do lots of other stupid appearance-altering things, in order to be considered "acceptable"???
I absolutely hate this ridiculous double-standard. :puke:

[agtcovert]

44. If it makes you feel any better...

I prefer women who don't wear makeup. I've always felt like hiding the real thing is foolish.

I wish, as a culture, we'd stop scaring people into thinking they don't look good or need makeup to somehow fit in or look decent. But then we couldn't sell quite so much of .

Cheers.

[Lucky Luciano]

62. Don't worry...guys have double standards they need to live

up to as well. They are under immense pressure to make a ton of money - especially in NY or LA. Both sexes are under pressure to have a fit and tight body.

[Pacifist Patriot]

37. Maybe something is wrong with me, but they all still look pretty in my opinion.

[Cruzan]

50. Who's the Katharine McPhee chick?

She looks quite doable.

[azmouse]

51. She was the American Idol runner up in 2006.

[valerief]

3. And he can't slam that rightwing whore hard enough. nt

[WiseButAngrySara]

4. I love you Dan Rather and miss you! Keep telling it like it

is. You and Helen Thomas are the all too few!

:kick: for Rather, whom I so rather.

[Mabus]

43. I miss him too

He used to annoy my husband but I remembered him doing reports from Vietnam when I was a child. I had respect for him because I felt like he was a real reporter. I also remember him asking Nixon whether he should resign. Ah, those were the days.

I know that he had his biases but at least I think he actually did research on some of the stories he covered rather than just reading them.

[WiseButAngrySara]

5. I rather RATHER! KNR for Rather. ...n/t

[tabasco]

7. Fuckinay right, Dan!

The corporate media, the propaganda arm of the war profiteering arms dealers, must be DESTROYED!

[Wednesdays]

12. How?

I'm searching for answers, but increasingly getting discouraged.

[tabasco]

28. Pass a law. If you do "x" amount of business with the government, you can't own a tv station.

That's a start. And I'm not even one of the smart guys.

Congress can do a lot of things to prevent propaganda 24/7.

More importantly, they need to reduce corporate influence in the government.

Federally funded elections would be a good start to do that.

Eliminating corporate personhood is also important.

However, I will never see these things happen in my lifetime. I have become pessimistic too after seeing the country run into the ground by the Bush mafia. Moneys talks but the People have no voice in government anymore.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Fire Katie. Hire Keith.

[Pyrzqxgl]

39. Don't be silly. We need Keith right where he is.

Making him a network news anchor would stifle him. No room for commentary
like he does on Countdown on the CBS evening news.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

9. Another K&R for Rather, a rare voice of truth in modern media n/t

[Cha]

10. cbs is last in news for

a lot reasons..They musta thought they were brilliant to FIRE Dan Rather and hire katie couric. Yeah..how did that work for ya?

[Jim Sagle]

11. It worked out fine for w and Rove, and that's what counts.

[Cha]

20. Yeah, didn't it? And les moonves is

a traitorous corporatemediawhore.

[WiseButAngrySara]

13. ....

[WiseButAngrySara]

14. ....

[WiseButAngrySara]

15. ....

[WiseButAngrySara]

16. ....

[wildbilln864]

17. K&R #13! n/t

[European Socialist]

18. I don't remember Dan sounding the alarm too much when he had a chance.

Like 99% of the leadership in this country--he let us down.

[Hekate]

19. Didn't he get fired for airing the truth? Just asking, because Kerry wasn't the only...

one who was Swiftboated.

Hekate

[pacalo]

23. Thank you for that slam dunk.

[Dude_CalmDown]

27. How is that a slam dunk?

He hardly could say a peep when he had the mic. Not that I don't mind him ripping on Kuric now but I Remember very clearly screaming about what a fucking whore he was on many occasions while having to watch him.

[roody]

49. I quit watching the corporate news long before

Rather was fired.

[WiseButAngrySara]

26. You got that right. ....n/t

[Nimrod2005]

29. I heard this live, he was awesome...Never seen him laying into

people like that before.

[Supersedeas]

30. when Paris Hilton is lecturing the media -- then real jouralist ought to take notice

[L0oniX]

55. Flash! Paris Hilton replaces Katie Couric on C-ee B-ull S-hit ...not.

:evilgrin:

[The Count]

35. He's right of course, but he was no peach himself (somewhat better, but still a shill)

I can't forget Rather interviewing Wes Clark in 2003. Clark got emotional over the Bosnians suffering and Rather editorialized IN HIS ABSENCE at the end:
"He feels empathy with the Bosnians but not with the poor Iraqis Saddam is butchering..."
And on that note - glad that hitting bottom awakened your conscience Dan, but you have some blood on your hands too re: this war, like the rest of the media shills.

[marshall]

36. I expect him to clarify his comments

Using the word "tart" in relation to a female anchor is a poor choice of words because it calls into mind a stereotypical criticism of her sexuality. It's almost the same sense as the person (I can't remember if it was Bush or somebody else) who said Obama was clean and articulate, with all the racist implications that brings.

Dan should have used a word like "fluffing up the news", unless he does mean to imply something like "Katie is a tramp" or words to that effect. I'm sure he is bitter but he's not helping himself here.

[The Count]

45. That's a specious argument- to be expected from News Busters.

The context makes it clear he refers to the object of the news (Hilton) rather than the anchors with that comment. Nice try though.

[marshall]

53. It's all about appearance and interpretation

Tart is not an appropriate word to use in relation to a female anchor. Regardless of what Dan might say he meant when he used the word, it is obvious that it is being received as sexist.

I still expect him to make a statement clarifying himself.

[The Count]

67. BS! Typical RW tactic of putting the truth teller on the defensive...like the Kerry "joke"

I dunno about you, but the guys at Newsbusters couldn't care a bit if Couric is called a tart - they probably use worse words.

[marshall]

68. You are right about NewsBusters

I hadn't heard of them before this thread, but they do seem to be hell bent on deriding the MSM. I don't know what Dan really meant to say--I would hope he wasn't referring to Katie personally but he is from the generation before women started anchoring the news so it is logical that he would hold fast to "tradition".

He was obviously trying to be provocative and humorous in his comments. Later in the segment he uses less sexually charged words to describe the current state of the media. I just wish he had started with that approach and he wouldn't have muddied up what he was trying to point out.

[The Count]

70. Not "against MSM," just any media left of Hitler . See # 52 - you keep ignoring my point

The article attacks Rather (for all the wrong reasons) and you go along....

[marshall]

72. Can't they BOTH be in the wrong?

I can disagree with Newsbusters (which is why I linked the story from Reuters) AND also find Dan's comments to be very ill advised.

[The Count]

75. NOT on the tarting up thing! Rather is not a brave man - but on this thing he

is right on. And the website is attacking him FOR IT. On specious arguments that you embrace for a very, very, very strange reason.

[truebrit71]

71. Bollocks. He wasn't calling her a tart..he was saying the entire news process had been tarted up....

....BIG difference....climb down from your soapbox and see if that changes your viewpoint...

[Bridget Burke]

80. I'm one of the many who miss Media Whores Online...

And their choice of words didn't bother me.

(By the way--"fluffing" has an alternate meaning that some might find offensive. Or accurate!)

[roody]

41. Not having read the story--I don't care

what Rather says. Isn't he the one to pledge allegience to his president on tv???

[The Count]

46. Yup. Forgot that one! Dan kept trying to break free - and was being reigned in

not unlike shills like Powell, McCain, Hagel, Warner...

[roody]

48. So did someone write that script for him, or

were they his own words? It was something like, "Whatever my president asks me to do, I'll do it."

[Uncle Joe]

47. Katie is just a symptom of a much deeper problem with network news,

and it didn't start with her. While I agree with Rather's assessment that the news has been dumbed down and tarted up, this is across the board and has been going for well over a decade, at least back to the O.J. trial. It was O.J. all day, every day for breakfast, lunch, dinner and the midnight snack, I don't believe anything else happened on the planet at that time.

[TexasBushwhacker]

57. I agree

She's a symptom of a bigger problem and it's not her fault she is who she is. NBC offered her a lucrative gig where she doesn't have to be up at 4 am and she took it.

[Lord Balto]

52. Why are you morons linking to a right-wingnut website?

Did I miss something here?

[marshall]

60. I agree

I prefer this link, which includes Rather's "clarification":

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN1230347020070612

[The Count]

69. I keep saying that - but no one seems to get it. The whole tone is wrong

and yet some seem to go along: "he said "tarted up" - apologize to Katie!" and such BS.

[marshall]

74. People often apologize for the appearance of an improper comment

Like it or not, words have more than one connotation, as Howard Cosell found out with his infamous (and so he claimed innocent) "monkey" comment.

[The Count]

76. Stupid people, pushovers - fodders for bullies. Like you and Newsbusters.

People of integrity don't let themselves manipulated by cheap tricks like this one. You are really going too far. STOP!

[marshall]

78. Uh, no, I don't accept that argument

Rather is not directing his comments only to geniuses like you. One of the primary glories of news is that it is meant for all people. He needs to be as CLEAR as possible. You will NEVER convince me that he did not mean this as a personal slam as well as a slam on the system.

[whistle]

56. It appears that DU posts are joining in on the dumb down/tart up trend as well

....maybe we need a category for that also....or two one for dumb down and another for tart up

[qdemn7]

58. Rather is too late

By about 43 fucking years. He dropped the ball on the JFK Assassination by swallowing the Warren Commission hook, line and sinker. He should have grow a pair when he was still part of the system.

[CGowen]

59. Wasn't he the only one from the media allowed to watch the Zapruder film? n/t

[Faygo Kid]

61. She lost me the first week, when she gave Limbaugh airtime

I know, I know, it was CBS that gave that scum air time, but she obviously went along with it. Plus, she does fluff pieces more than anyone else, and her interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards was just about the worst interview I have ever seen. Too bad they couldn't put a qualified newsperson on; Katie is the worst - Barbara Walters and Connie Chung were better, and that ain't sayin' much.

[wicket]

63. God bless him

n/t

[ikojo]

64. So, Rather Dan has seen the light after saying

Bush was the commander in chief and where ever he needs Dan Rather he will be there. Yeah, yeah, yeah...he sucked up to Bush while he was at CBS and did his part for propaganda.

Dan Rather and the other media whores hold much responsibility for the carnage in Iraq and what appears to be the upcoming carnage in the rest of the middle east.

[marshall]

73. He has also seen the light on the issue of tarts

To Dan's credit, he now admits "It may not have been the wisest thing I've done this week" in reference to his 'tarting it up' comment:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/12/AR2007061202255.html

[The Count]

77. Great - as I said before - a brave man he is not. Folded like a cheap umbrella

under idiotic attacks like yours. Doesn't make you right, it makes him an asshole.

[marshall]

79. My opinion about him is based on talking with people who know him

I'm not talking about the issues that he raises about the media--I'm talking about Dan the man.

[brentspeak]

65. Why did you link this from "Newsbusters"???

A Richard Scaife-funded website dedicated to "exposing liberal media bias"?

[Oilwellian]

66. The media IS criminal in their complicity of the PNAC agenda...

and Rather is a day late and a dollar short. The damage is done and Rather has probably realized just how much we are teetering on the edge of a cliff. He can't feel he'll be leaving his children and grandchildren to a safe & secure world, instead, he sees the possible end of America as we know it. The fourth estate has let us down and sold their soul for what?

I've never understood how so many newscasters could remain quiet for so many years and repeat the corporate controlled news. It's been a fantasy of mine to see a reporter or newscaster pull a "Network" scene and suddenly yell out the TRUTH...just once.

"Corporate Pravda, USA" ... their greed and lust for power are far more important than the security of their own families. Need I say more?