Think Again: CBS and Dan Rather -- Doing the Right's Dirty Work

Crossposted with the Center for American Progress. With Mickey Ehrlich.

Last week, a New York appeals court dismissed Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS. Rather contends that the network violated his contract by giving him insufficient airtime on "60 Minutes" after forcing him to step down as anchor of the "CBS Evening News" in March 2005. He also says the network committed fraud by commissioning a "biased" and incomplete investigation of a "60 Minutes" broadcast in order to "pacify the White House." The broadcast presented as authentic documents from the Air National Guard showing George W. Bush went AWOL, which CBS aired less than two months before the 2004 presidential election.

Coverage of the decision in the major dailies, however, focused exclusively on the ironic disintegration of the relationship between the network and the former anchorman. Three articles appearing about the court's decision each closed with earnestly sober quotations from CBS employees about the futility of Rather's case:

The New York Times: "'Dan was a great anchor,' Mr. Briskman [CBS chief counsel] said. 'I hate the whole thing. The whole situation is pathetic. To have to fight Dan Rather is pathetic. I really wish the whole thing would just go away.'"

The Washington Post: "Jeff Fager, executive producer of '60 Minutes,' told the Los Angeles Times in August, 'It's hard to watch' Rather's never-ending legal fight.

'It's like he is in some paranoid nightmare where everybody is out to get him. We're all witnessing the poor guy thrashing around, tormented. ... I can't for the life of me understand why he's doing this, how he could turn such a storied career into this train wreck,' added Fager, who apparently got to know Rather not at all during their years working together."

The Associated Press: "General counsel Louis Briskman said that action 'is technically still pending, but it's hanging by a thread.'"

These quotes, coming as they do from people on the CBS payroll, attempt to portray Rather as some crazy old grandpa who can't get used to the idea that he's been put out to pasture. What's more significant, however, is the manner in which they obscure the major questions about CBS's conduct during the so-called "Memogate" scandal that could be answered by the Rather lawsuit.

You can read the rest of Eric Alterman and Mickey Ehrlich's analysis in their recent article, "Think Again: CBS and Dan Rather--Doing the Right's Dirty Work

Eric Alterman is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a Distinguished Professor of English at Brooklyn College. He is also a Nation columnist and a professor of journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. His seventh book, Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Most Important Ideals, was recently published in paperback. He occasionally blogs at http://www.thenation.com/blogs/altercation and is a regular contributor to The Daily Beast. Mickey Ehrlich is a freelance writer and an English teacher at Kingsborough Community College.

 

 

Follow Eric Alterman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Eric_Alterman

Comments

[StillAmused]

CBS will undoubtedly put an end to Rather and vindicate itself when Junior's Air Guard pilot-contemporaries hold that much-anticipated group press conference and angrily attest to his uninterrupted presence on duty (during the infamous "missing year"), his never-reported compliance with pilot drug-testing (justifying the millions dumped into his training) and his repeated attempts to secure a combat assignment.

A highlight of the triumphant CBS victory lap will reportedly be a tearful retraction from the secretary who originally questioned the 'authenticity' of the broadcast copy of the controversial memo she had typed... but fully confirmed the essence of its contents. It's expected that, despite the best efforts of CBS makeup artists, she will exhibit mild bruising and a swollen lip.
.
.

(Will someone shut up those dam ned crickets!)

[kimk3]

I hope Rather perseveres. He's got a lot of courage and money. Go Dan!

[iblogleft]

If you happen to pay for high definition, you can see Dan Rather reports (some of the best journalism on cable) on HDNET.

Rather has an excellent program, far better than 60 minutes, or anything CBS has to offer.

[drumz]

CBS is a joke and Rather got railroaded. CBS is as much to blame for the 'sloppy' reporting as anyone. It was not as though Rather worked alone on that piece.

Bush was AWOL and the 'phony' papers that revealed the truth were probably a plant from Rove anyway. Bush is guilty of so many lies and they do not care who goes down as long as the lies are perpetuated so the simpletons on the right are satiated.

[ACMallet]

Prof. Alterman,

With respect, I say the main purpose of your essay seems to be to ensure that Dan Rather not be painted as a "pathetic" figure.

Sorry, but I have to disagree.

To my mind, Rather was trying reignite former glory, to trash an incumbent President in the same manner as his "No, sir, are you (running for something)?" confrontation with Richard Nixon.

And whether or not his accusations were true, it is unforgiveable that two months before an election, he filed a report whose i's were not dotted, t's not crossed, etc. The "spirit" of his report does not matter if it can be cast into question by sloppy journalism.

[iblogleft]

"And while the report certainly failed to prove the authenticity of the Bush documents, it was considerably hampered from the start by a lack of cooperation from relevant sources. The panelists contacted White House Director of Communications Dan Bartlett, who refused to answer questions addressed to George W. Bush. Bartlett argued that the panel was making an inquiry into CBS News and not the president. When he left the administration, Bartlett became a political analyst at CBS News."

They couldn't cross the "t's" or dot the "I's". Mr. Rather is well justified in his actions, but the battle was lost before it even began.

[arvay]

This is absurd.

Everyone knows that Bush's daddy got him out of military service and into the National Guard. That's sufficient disgrace.

Dan Rather presented a falsified report, practicing sloppy journalism, and actually helped Bush.

The old guy is just boring everyone, unfortunately has the money to keep up his nonsense.

[OliverTwist]

It is because of this and other similar cases of CBS political bias (for example, their handling of the Reagan story) that I have not watched CBS News in quite some time and have no plans to. They have no credibility.