RatherGate - MemoGate DOUBLE STANDARD by CBS!

Check out the double standard for CBS reporting. When CBS produces FORGED documents about a Republican President we're not supposed to ask about how they got the forgeries, but are supposed to focus on the "Content" of the FORGED memo.

Ahh, but when the Republicans turned up REAL Democratic memos documenting illegal collusion between Judiciary Committee Dems and liberal activist groups, CBS (and AP) said the CONTENT of the memos wasn't important, just HOW the Republicans got them.

Two of Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch's staffers were blamed for the intrusion into Democratic computer files.

"More remains to be done to answer questions about how these stolen files were used, and by whom." Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

Democrats are calling for an outside investigation into the theft of memos from their computer files after a new report blamed two Senate Republican staffers for the intrusion.

The Senate Judiciary Committee spent half of Thursday in closed-door meetings discussing the report by the Senate sergeant-at-arms but has yet to come up with a plan on what to do now that the report is finished.

The report, released Thursday by the committee, faults two of committee chairman Orrin Hatch's staffers for the intrusion. It says 4,670 files were found on a GOP aide's computer, "the majority of which appeared to be from folders belonging to Democratic staff."

The memos concern political strategy on blocking confirmation of several judicial nominations.

Democrats want an outside investigation to see whether any of President Bush's judicial nominees profited from the files, and if anyone in the White House or the Justice Department saw the memos.

"More remains to be done to answer questions about how these stolen files were used, and by whom," Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, the committee's ranking Democrat, said. "Referring this report to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation is one of the next steps we must consider."

Hatch wouldn't commit to the idea but said prosecutors likely will handle the issue. "Certainly whether there was criminal conduct here or not is going to have to be determined by people outside of the committee," he said.

The report by Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle's office blamed the intrusion on former GOP aides Manuel Miranda, who worked for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, and Jason Lundell, a clerk who worked on nominations for Hatch. Miranda recently resigned amid the dispute. Lundell left last year.

No address was available for Lundell. Miranda responded to the report with an e-mailed statement, saying it "fails to find any criminal hacking or any credible suggestion of criminal acts." He called for an investigation of what he called "unethical substance" of the Democrats' memos.

Conservatives say the memos prove the Democrats colluded with liberal groups over which Bush nominees to block. One ethics complaint has been filed against Democrats Sen. Richard Durbin, of Illinois, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, of Massachusetts, based on the leaked information.......end of excerpt

For the record, CBS News stands by the thoroughness and accuracy of the 60 MINUTES report this Wednesday on President Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard. This report was not based solely on recovered documents, but rather on a preponderance of evidence, including documents that were provided by unimpeachable sources, interviews with former Texas National Guard officials and individuals who worked closely back in the early 1970s with Colonel Jerry Killian and were well acquainted with his procedures, his character and his thinking. In addition, the documents are backed up not only by independent handwriting and forensic document experts but by sources familiar with their content. Contrary to some rumors, no internal investigation is underway at CBS News nor is one planned. We have complete confidence in our reporting and will continue to pursue the story.

Acknowledging questions raised about documents suggesting lapses in President Bush's National Guard service, CBS News promised a full-court effort to determine their authenticity while standing by its story.

"We will keep an open mind and we will continue to report credible evidence and responsible points of view as we try to answer the questions raised about the authenticity of the documents," CBS News Anchor Dan Rather said on 60 Minutes on Wednesday.

But Rather said CBS' critics have never attacked the thrust of the network's story: that Mr. Bush received preferential treatment to get into the National Guard and stay stateside during the Vietnam War, and failed to satisfy the requirements of his service.

"If we uncover any information to the contrary, rest assured we shall report that also," the embattled anchor said.

OK, Here are some great Dan Blather quotes (researched by FReeper Ironclad) that somehow seem "timeless." Henchster comments in bold type:

Interview with Dan Rather - The Quill; 6/1/1996

But a little scenario from the never blinking camera shows he's no pushover for the lurid. All day long the staff of the Evening News had been working on a hot story: a former acolyte charging a cardinal with abusing him sexually when he was a minor. The producers saw it as the lead story. Rather did not.

"That's not a story,' he said. "That's an accusation. if we give our best slots to every accusation that comes along the pike, we'd never have time for anything else."

1996, he was referring to Clinton!

…….

"Quality is what counts. I know that strikes many people as a cliche. But I'm much more interested in getting stuff on the air of quality than I am in the question of whether we do it in a twenty-four-hour, seven-day-a-week news format. I feel that way now more than ever because in a five hundred-channel world - which we're coming to very quickly - none of us can fully imagine, well, here's the point: No one can accurately paint a picture of the future and what the delivery system's gonna be. Whatever the delivery system, the quality of the product you put into that system is in the end what counts the most."

Ah, quality. CBS has a reputation for that now, don't they?

……

Rather: Well, he may be right. I'm dedicated to the proposition "Never rule out the possibility the other guy's right." I think it will be next, demand. But, I keep coming back to the point that if you do journalism of integrity, you're gonna find an audience, a substantial one, whether it's on-demand or by cable or direct broadcasting.

And your audience is shrinking FAST!

CBS This Morning; 6/9/1999; Russ Mitchell, Dan Rather

RATHER: Well not reporters who are worthy of the name. It is certainly true that television has changed the definition of a reporter.

That one can carry the name "reporter" now and do nothing but walk into a studio and read the news. There`s nothing wrong with that but it`s not what I would call reporting.

But I will say, Russ, that I`m critical of the diminution of our ethics and our integrity, particularly during the Lewinsky mess. I thought all of us made great mistakes. But most reporters are smarter than reporters were when I was coming up and many of them are a whole lot better. I`m glad I don`t have to compete against them at a young age.

You ain't doin' so hot in your old age either Dan.

06-24-1999 Fox News Tony Snow

SNOW: Well, you look for the (INAUDIBLE) to tell you. Yeah, I was going to ask you about this. You've got a picture of you sitting at a typewriter with what looks to be a copy of "USA Today," judging from the typeface. Is that "USA Today" there?

RATHER: I don't know about "USA Today." It may very well be. The typewriter's a quick story here, if you will. At the -- you know, the publisher said, "Look, we need a picture of you on the cover," and I said, "Gosh, I don't know whether that's a good idea or not," but we -- but the picture turned out well. And when the photographer -- mind you, this was the publisher's photographer -- came, he said that he loved the -- this is an old Royal typewriter, and my previous books had been written on a typewriter -- well, all except one.

At any rate, I said, "I'm a little worried about the typewriter." He said, "No, no, no." I mean, "It gives authenticity. It's great!" So we took the picture. The publisher calls me and says, "What the hell are you doing with a typewriter? Nobody's going to buy a book in 1999 with a guy sitting in front of a typewriter." And I -- you know, I ran up a white one and said, "Look" -- I didn't want to blame it on the photographer -- "We made a mistake." So if you notice, there's no picture on the cover.

Typewriter? Have we found a NEW source for the forged docs? Nah, they were produced on a computer.

Newsday; 12/20/1994; Verne Gay

With Dan Rather, it's always peck, peck, peck, eh, Mr. Rather? (He knocks out his books on a crusty old Royal in his office.)

There's that typewriter again. Probably used to test TANG documents for their authenticity.

Time Magazine 1988

Rather's skills as a reporter, in short, are the very ones that seem to get him into hot water as an anchor. TV viewers were far more comfortable with Tom Brokaw's interview with Soviet Leader Gorbachev in December -- deferential, dignified, comforting. Says Rather: ''I was trained to ask questions, and to ask again until they are answered or it is clearly demonstrated that they aren't going to be answered. I didn't grow up as a reporter believing that my job was necessarily to be popular.'' That attitude may not be a prescription for success as a network anchor in 1988. But it does ensure that Rather's tenure, however long it lasts, will not be dull.

Rather's ratings drop over the last 15 years proves he's not a prescription for success.

Dan Rather: CBS's eye on the world. 1/5/1998

I think we're a harder news broadcast than we were two years ago. We've been trying. We set ourselves on a course about two years ago [about the time Jeff Fager came on board as executive producer]. We stopped, thought, assessed and asked what it was that we wanted to do better. And what we said to ourselves was: "You know, we think we're the best hardnews broadcast of the network Big Three, but we'd like to be a bit harder. And we would like to increase the broadcast's reputation of being the broadcast of record and a broadcast of quality." So we rededicated ourselves to that. But when you say did we do anything differently: we dug deeper, tried to work harder. For a long while, it seemed everybody was afraid of trying to be a "news broadcast of record." It became unfashionable to use the phrase -- even to think it, much less try to be it.

After saying that, we've tried to keep our focus on our core business. The core business of CBS News is reporting, writing and broadcasting news. While I would certainly hope that we would get better experimenting with new distribution technologies, and there's some real effort being made to do that on the corporate side, it's easy to lose your way. It's easy to get wrapped up in the packaging of news and lose your focus on the gathering of news. There are times when I look at several of our competitors and say: I think they've gotten themselves a little too far into the promotion and packaging and not quite far enough into the reporting and writing and broadcasting of news. And I find myself saying: Well, if that's true, let them keep on doing it because we're not going to lose that focus here. We want to be the best newsgathering operation in the world. We'd also like to be the best packagers. But first you want to be the best gatherers.

If you take away anything from this interview, take away this: At CBS, quality will always be more important than ratings. We care about ratings, about being competitive; we want to win. We're pleased when the ratings are up and moving our way, as they seem to be now. We're disappointed when they aren't. But, you know, we have a flag flying that says: Quality journalism lasts -- the ratings don't.

Hmmmmm. Problem Dan. You now have NO quality AND no ratings.

Broadcasting & Cable; 10/4/1993; Viles, Peter

Dan Rather, news anchor at CBS Inc, told attendees at the Radio-Television News Directors Assn (RTNDA) conference that television broadcasters had allowed the great potential of the medium to be squandered and cheapened.

What could be funnier? Seriously folks, you just can't make this stuff up!

…….

If Murrow's speech was a battle cry, so was Rather's. "In too many important ways," he said, "we have allowed this great instrument, this resource, this weapon for good, to be squandered and cheapened. About this, the best among us hang their heads in embarrassment, even shame. We all should be ashamed of what we have and have not done, measured against what we could do. . . . Our reputations have been reduced, our credibility cracked, justifiably."

The more things change, the more they stay the same!

……..

Rather criticized his own network for airing "a quote-unquote entertainment special about the discovery of Noah's Ark that turns out to be a 100% hoax." He criticized prime time access shows as a "glut of inanities" that end up on the air only through "cynicism and greed."

Like the greed of trying to break a negative story about a President you hate despite the story's obvious flaws?

………

"Thoughtfully written analysis is out, |live pops' are in. |Action, Jackson' is the cry. Hire lookers, not writers. Do powder-puff, not probing, interviews. Stay away from controversial subjects. Kiss ass, move with the mass, and for heaven's and the ratings' sake, don't make anybody mad - certainly not anybody in a position of power. Make nice, not news. This has become the new mantra."

………

"In any showdown between quality and substance on the one hand, and sleaze and glitz on the other, go with quality and substance. You know the difference.

"Besides, CBS already has the sleaze and glitz market locked up.

PR Newswire; 6/26/2002

STANLEY, Va. -- Veteran CBS anchorman, Dan Rather, recently exposed the undercurrent of intimidation afflicting American journalists, telling the BBC's Newsnight broadcast in England that "patriotism run amok" was seriously impairing the willingness of those in the media to ask tough questions. He even admitted that he himself had shrunk from "taking on" the Bush administration over the war on terrorism.

The Quill; 4/1/1998; Kirtz, Bill

"The most important question in most television newsrooms is not, 'Do you know this for a certain fact?' but 'Do we have the video of that?' That's why you get pictures of trees falling on houses instead of an analysis of the Asian economic crisis."

Rather believes journalists pay clearly for such tactics.

"When we allow entertainment values to overtake our professional standards, as we so often - myself not excepted - do, we lose the ability to hold the public's attention. We are losing their confidence and trust, and we deserve to lose it every time we pander and tease and condescend."

Everybody EXCEPT Dan. HA!

…….

Rather stresses that "rumor-mongering isn't investigative reporting. A good story can start with a rumor, but no reporter worthy of the name reports his instincts." He said he used to think this point was obvious, before recent instances of "rumors going straight to air."

Instincts? Like "knowing" a story is "true" even though you have no facts?

Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN); 3/12/1996; Holston, Noel

"I don't speak for anybody else's evening news, and even at CBS I may be in the minority on this, but I think our basic goal hasn't changed. It may be more important now than it ever has been. What we try to do is send out a beacon that says two things: If you haven't seen or heard any news today, come to us and we'll at least call your attention to those things that happened that are most important and most interesting.

"If you have seen or heard some news, or even a lot of news, here's a place where we'll try to put it in perspective or context, and on our best day, try to give you a little analysis.

And on all days, we'll tell you what to think, and lie to you to make you believe it.

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