Rather lied and Kerry's Fried
CBS
See BS, hear BS, speak BS
Visit the CBS Take Action Site!
List of sponsors, emails, and more...
Make your voice heard here, where it hurt$.
Posted on 09/16/2004 8:14:29 AM PDT by Rutles4Ever
Edited on 09/16/2004 8:57:41 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Just the title...
MORE INFO
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU SEPT 16, 2004 11:42:09 ET XXXXX
CBS EXECS CONCERN OVER VIEWERSHIP PLUNGE; RATHER RATINGS FADE IN MAJOR MARKETS
CBS executives on both coasts have become concerned in recent days that Dan Rather's EVENING NEWS broadcast has plunged in the ratings since the anchor presented questionable documents about Bush's National Guard service.
NIELSEN numbers released this week show Rather fading and trailing his rivals in every Top 10 city, other than San Francisco, with audience margins in some cities running more than 6 to 1 against CBS!
Executives fear many voters inclined to vote for Bush are now switching off Rather.
"The audience appears to becoming polarized," a top CBS source said from LOS ANGELES on Thursday. "Rightly or wrongly, we're being perceived as 'anti-Bush,' which I do not think is fair to Dan, who is a fine journalist... of course we do not like to see the ratings coming back the way they are this week."
In Philadelphia, the nation's #4 market, Rather pulled a 2.6 rating/5 share on Tuesday night against ABC's 13.3 rating/23 share and NBC's 4.0/7.
In Chicago, Rather hit a 2.3/5 to ABC's 9.2/20.
CBS trailed ABC by more than 2 to 1 in Los Angeles.
And in the nation's top market, New York, Rather finished not only behind NBC NIGHTLY NEWS and ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT -- but also pulled less audience than reruns of the SIMPSONS, WILL & GRACE and KING OF QUEENS.
Rather finished dead last in New York during the 6:30 pm timeslot among all broadcast channels tracked by NIELSEN on Tuesday.
Developing...
Here's a reply from my local affiliate:
First, thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding the CBS News story about President Bush's military record.
To say the least, we are very concerned about the controversy surrounding the memos used as the basis for their story. Letters and emails of concern like yours have been flooding WRAL as I am sure the rest of the affiliate stations across the country. CBS is feeling the heat. Below is the latest industry story regarding this CBS story.
It then prints CBS News's offical reply and then ends:
As for WRAL-TV News, which is locally owned and operated by Capitol Broadcasting Company of Raleigh, we will continue to provide the most accurate and unbiased local news to our viewers. I hope you will not penalized us for what CBS is doing.
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us. Please make sure your thoughts are heard at CBS News.
Respectfully,
Chuck deCourt
Station Manager
White House McClellan on Rather: “It’s always best for journalists to stick to reporting the facts and not try to dispense campaign advice'...
14 posted on 09/16/2004 8:18:28 AM PDT by Republican Red (We're going to win one for the gipper...they're going to lose one for the flipper)
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Rather lied and Kerry's Fried
CBS
See BS, hear BS, speak BS
Visit the CBS Take Action Site!
List of sponsors, emails, and more...
Make your voice heard here, where it hurt$.
Oh my goodness, that was sweeeeeeeet!
My local affiliate CBS4 News Miami, suggested with arrogance that I should contact CBS Network. Not their problem.
I like that one
It's time to crank up the pressure on the sponsors and run this forger-enabler out of the "news" business.
That's powerful.
Should be: "Rather Lied, Now Kerry's Fried" IMHO
CSPAN - Washington Journal
First 3 callers condemn Dan Rather. Even the Dem caller said Dan's fraud will hurt Kerry.
Kitty Kelly on tonite at 6:00 (EDT) speaking live from some conference.
What is happening is that Rather has convinced the suits that HE is the brand, so they are reluctant to can him. Rather also probably has some dirt on some of the executives. He has a reputation for being very political within the company, as well as in party politics.
Tator, could you tell us what you think about the CBS vs. Rather brand?
Putting my own bias aside, and coming from a speech background, it was one of the most scripted sounding pieces I have ever heard. Rather was in these "the-most-serious-business-ever-talking-to-grandmother" hushed tones-more mellowdramatic than usual, of course.
She was pretending this active listening routine and saying "yes, uhhuh" to every other word from Rather's mouth. He could have said, "you have a spider monkey on your head right now," and she would have repeated "yes, yes."
Methinks she was paid or persauded she was doing her good duty to help protect some semblance of the story for some reason. Translation: She's voting for Kerry.
The PJ army is out in RAGE!
Wow, I can't believe he said that. What a kick in the nuts.
This is the best news since the initial post exposing the memos as a fraud. If things follow suit, then there should be a real possibility of a backlash in the polls. (we can only hope)
This could be big.
I'll take rightly for $1000, Alex.
That was a good quip from Scott. LOL
Remember, 41 embarassed Dan during the '88 campaign? My fuzzy memory is that Dan tried to embarass 41 over an incident, and 41 turned it around on him, asking how he'd like it if his entire career were judged by the 6 or 7 minutes when Dan walked off the show in a tiff.
Not that Rather ever liked Bush, but that was an awful moment for him and really was one of the turning points in the '88 election.
Didn't GHWB give an interview with Rather that turned out really bad, back when GHWB was running for president? GHWB smacked him down on-air or something?
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