Somewhere, the ghost of Edward R. Murrow is smiling. And if the classic Network's Howard Beale was real, he would be going heh-heh.
I say this in response to Dan Rather's $70 million suit against CBS-owning Viacom, their chickenshit cowardice and their knife-twisting betraying ways.
Perhaps Rather's report on GW Bush not being the most diligent National Guard soldier was not all that airtight. Yet for daring to report leads in that area, Rather was marginalized by CBS and Viacom's Sumner Redstone.
Listen, Sumner Redstone. When you were running movie theaters back in the 1970s, Dan Rather was a distinguished reporter and anchor trusted by tens of millions of Americans. How dare you approve Rather's marginalization?
And to make matters worse, CBS' chief Les Moonves had the unmitigated gall to further diminish your reporting responsibilities at the same time he publicly wooed and then signed celebrity ass-kisser Katie Couric to take over the seat you -- and Cronkite, and Murrow -- so distinguishably occupied.
Now, Couric's ratings are in the tank, and Rather is standing up, battling the entertainment-focused corporation that has done him wrong in more than one way.
Dan Rather, I hope you kick Viacom's puff-addled, celebrity-obsessed ass seven ways to Sunday in court.
Wonder how Jennings managed to succeed where Rather failed? Luck? Or, maybe the stress of keeping the hounds at bay is partly why Jennings isn't with us any more, while Rather remains alive.
Just wondering if we'll ever see better days for real journalism
Donate the cash to some worthy causes and you'll be immortalized as number 2 behind Cronkite.
Now in his lawsuit, Dan claims that he was little more than a narrator—it was up to others to check out the facts of the Bush National Guard story. After years of boasting that he was not a newsreader—that he was that guy in charge—Dan is suddenly claiming that he only read what was on the teleprompter. In effect, he is saying that after years of being Walter Cronkite, he was suddenly Ted Baxter (the bumbling anchor from the “Mary Tyler Moore Show” who pompously read whatever was put in front of him.)
Unlike Don Imus, Dan was not fired. His contract was not renewed. This happens all the time in television. Aaron Brown’s contract was not renewed by CNN, and the vastly inferior Anderson Cooper replaced him.
The ghost of Edward R. Murrow is NOT smiling on Dan. Murrow accepted responsibility for the content of his programs. The National Guard story happened on Dan’s watch. Maybe Dan was set up? But it was HIS broadcast. He was the face guy. Murrow never blamed Fred Friendly. But Dan’s defense is to blame his underlings—the producers who were making a fraction of his salary. A true journalist in the Murrow/Cronkite tradition would have said, “It happened on my watch. It was my ultimate responsibility to check the facts and I messed up.”
You get a big fat wet one right on the lips for this post!
MMMMWHHAAA!
Great post! Here's to Dan.
CBS is in the gutter thanks to that slimy munchkin Les Moonves, Redstone and Heyward. (By the way, what's that has been, been up to?)
HDNet now rocks with Rather!
Dan the Man!
If he can't win
then No One Can!
it is time for dan rather to save his soul and support a story about the cowardice and the infantile underdeveloped character structure
that is george bush's legacy. the national guard story is true, not bogus. i hope he plans for it to come out in this lawsuit.
Are they this afraid of the powers that be? Grow some balls and go get my news!