Posted on 09/14/2004 10:16:05 PM PDT by kattracks
Critics have gone beyond questioning the credibility of CBS anchorman Dan Rather.
Some are now calling for his resignation, a boycott of CBS and a federal investigation just a week after Mr. Rather stepped before "60 Minutes II" cameras, claiming he had damaging memos that proved President Bush shirked his National Guard duty three decades ago.
A small, initial chorus of suspicious Internet bloggers soon grew into a caterwaul of mainstream journalists who disputed Mr. Rather's claims.[snip]
According to a statement yesterday, CBS "has mounted a steadfast defense" of the documents, with no comment about a New York Times report yesterday that detailed a "deepening concern" among Mr. Rather's anxious colleagues who want him to come clean and reveal his sources.
"We have no reaction to that report. None at all," CBS spokeswoman Sandy Genelius said yesterday.
Some believe CBS has done more than compromise its journalistic integrity, however.
"Congress has held hearings on [radio shock jock] Howard Stern and 'wardrobe malfunctions' at the Super Bowl. It has held hearings on the networks' disastrous performance on Election Night 2000. Now a network is party to a fraud committed with the obvious intent of influencing an election. Where are the hearings?"
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Hey, pJ wearing bloggers! get it right! LoL Rather will be gone by the end of the week I bet at this rate the heat is being turned up.
Here ya go:
(A tangled web he weaves... Resign Rather, you're a disgrace to the news community!)
The vice keeps tightening...
Hearings are a bad idea, imho.
If hearings are held about the news-gathering process at CBS, they will all stonewall, claiming journalists' privilege. Suddenly they will go from being bad guys to being heroes.
Better to let this scandal play out in the media. Everything will be revealed, I believe, and for Rather there's no way out: any day now, someone's going to leave him alone in his office with a revolver and a shot of whiskey.
If the documents are proven to be fake, it will be a terrible, devastating blow," former NBC News President Larry Grossman told the Wall Street Journal. "People will be fired, the program loses its credibility and Dan Rather ends a distinguished career with his reputation besmirched."
Well the documents have been proven to be fake, so when's the resignation?
And if he refuses to resign, can you impeach a network broadcaster? :)
It's gotta' be tough for Dan to have a leg kicked off his throne by the surfs.
Sit down, Larry. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. The memos have already been conclusively proven to be forgeries. There's no "if" here.
Hearings are coming.
Rather is toast.
Kerry is toast.
And as the blogstorm rages, America is waking up to the idea that "Freedom of the Press" is now residing on the Internet!
He's already been "impeached." He just hasn't been removed yet. AFAIK, there's only one way to do that. Hurt the sponsors and keep hurting them.
OMG, we gotta send that Rather/Clown moving gif to "DNCBS!"
I'm sure they'll get a laugh out of their resident clown!
Yeah, I have to ponder that for a while, it might bring the rest of the MSM back to CBS' side...but still...
Meanwhile, pundits seem to smell blood.
"CBS News and top anchor Dan Rather are digging in their heels — and just may be digging their own journalistic graves," a New York Post editorial said yesterday.
"If the documents are proven to be fake, it will be a terrible, devastating blow," former NBC News President Larry Grossman told the Wall Street Journal. "People will be fired, the program loses its credibility and Dan Rather ends a distinguished career with his reputation besmirched."
In a New Republic column, Andrew Sullivan said: "When a news anchor presents false information and then tries to cover up and deny his errors, he has ceased to be a journalist. I'd like to say that Dan Rather needs to resign from his profession. But, judging from the last few days, he already has."
To some, the damage is already done.
"Whatever credibility remains at CBS News is over. And so, possibly, is Dan Rather's career," Cal Thomas declared yesterday in his syndicated column.
Rather has been a disgrace to the news media for a long time. I stopped listening to his blather years ago.
While I wish he'd resign or be removed, I don't think it will happen.
I just like seeing people turn on him, and watching him squirm and slither.
Rather would never use a pistol; liberals hate guns. Besides, he's a coward and would most likely swallow a bottle of pills in girlie-man fashion.
CBS compromised its journalistic integrity many years ago; it has simply reached the point where it is undeniable.
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