Dan Rather's $70 Million Case Against CBS Moves Forward

Reuters:

NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - A New York judge on Monday rejected CBS Corp's (CBS.N) bid to dismiss former TV news anchor Dan Rather's $70 million lawsuit claiming he was fired over a controversial election-year report on former President George W. Bush's Vietnam War-era military service.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[WeMustSpeakOut]

Go Dan!
Out the reality of our co-opted media!!

[Dustee]

***Speaking outside the courthouse, Rather said the case puts "an important principle" at stake: "Are we going to let big corporations and big government decide what we hear and see on the news?"

He accused CBS of having "buried an important story to curry favor with and protect the powerful politicians who regulate them. That's a big part of this lawsuit."***

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssMediaDiversified/idUSN2127269720090921?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
~~~~~~~~~~­~~~~~~~~~~­~~

Just the sound of "Big Corporation" and "Big Government" coupled together is a scary thing.

[beauty8]

I would agree that it was wrong to go forward with a news story based on un-verified documents, but it seems the whole network should have taken on the mea culpa, why just Rather? And these days, my God! Most of the news we hear is fake - except for Jon Stewart's fake news, which is actually more real than most. Now I'm confused....

[TexasHorns]

THE FATHER of the fall of broadcast journalism as trusted profession.

TODAY - HE WOULDN'T BE FIRED BY ANY NETWORK FOR THE SAME ACT.

[LeeCalif]

We're pulling for you, Dan !!!!

[blueskybigstar]

The Rove team used something very similar when they had a journalist with a criminal background write a biography about Bush. They supplied him with truthful information, and when he began to publish it, they pulled the rug from under him by pointing to his past criminal background. This deligitimized the truth.

[blueskybigstar]

Stick it to them, Dan.

What is even more disturbing about this story is that in my opinion it implicates CBS execs with collusion with the Bush campaign. This is a very important case.

[FoonTheElder]

I'm sure Redstone and his fellow execs will lie their way through this one.

I can hear it now--I don't remember if we were trying to suck up to the Bushies. I can't recall how we decided anything. I just don't believe that ever happened.

Our media doesn't let the truth get in the way of political and corporate influence.

[NoSillyName]

Good luck, Mr. Rather!

[oceanlover]

"I don't think you can cloak this case in the noble cause of journalism," Heyward said

Problem with quoting Heyward is:

As far as Heyward is concerned, precious little qualifies "in the noble cause of journalim,"....

Heyword is a company man all the way, regardless of what network he's tied to at any given point in time. $ is bottom line, not the journalism. Hence, you'll always find him spouting company talking points. I have no patience for his ilk.

[hippie4ever]

"Rather said the case puts "an important principle" at stake: "Are we going to let big corporations and big government decide what we hear and see on the news?"

I thought that lynchpin was already in place, but there is "Democracy Now" with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, where they report real news, along with the BBC. PBS apparently stands for Plutocratic Broadcasting Service so I rarely bother -- but if you prefer longer propaganda segments then by all means...just don't confuse it with an independent point of view.

Dan Rather was generally a talking head for the news bureau at CBS; that so many idolize him is a sad commentary on what passes for news generally. I hope he wins his suit, though: CBS deserves to circle the bowl.

[oceanofconsciousness]

CBS threw him under the bus.

[blueskybigstar]

And the truth about Bush.

[AlaskanWannaB]

I'm rooting for Dan Rather. He was an excellent journalist in his time and not simply a news reader. And, based on what goes on with the idiots on Faux News and other networks, what did Rather do wrong. Again, he is 10 times better than the idiots on the news these days.

[FR]

Let's see where this goes. I don't think we ever heard the whole truth about those documents.

Furthermore, given W's track record, I tend to believe the story itself was generally true even if the documents are shown to be false. Interesting that most of the documentation that SHOULD be there was mysteriously missing.

[mystic]

This thing about Bush's military service is a smokescreen. It sounds like it had something to do with the fact that the ISI and hence the Pentagon knew that Bin laden was in a military hospital in Pakistan on 9/10 and could easily have arrested him on 9/12 but did not. If that is true, the can of worms has been opened.

[kickatthedarkness]

While you are at it, Mr. Rather, sue CBS News for access to this missing Giuliani video. The NYCCAN commission will need it:

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/08/16/black-box/