Posted on 09/25/2004 8:23:29 AM PDT by hispanarepublicana
Station managers at several CBS affiliates say they appear to be a target of a national e-mail campaign urging the network to oust Dan Rather as anchorman of the "CBS Evening News."
The anger stems from Rather's role in a "60 Minutes" report on Pres ident Bush's service in the National Guard. CBS has apologized for reporting on documents critical of Bush's service, widely assumed now to be fakes, and appointed a panel to investigate what went wrong in the report.
Bob Lee, president and general manager of WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va., and head of the CBS affiliate board, said that many e- mailers offer the same message: I will not watch CBS News again until Rather is gone.
"To be honest, I'm most concerned when the e-mail is coming from a local viewer," said Gary Gardner, vice president and general manager of WINK-TV in Fort Myers, Fla.
Lee said he can't recall any other issue getting such a big response from viewers.
Steve Doerr, news director at Cleveland's CBS affiliate WOIO Channel 19, said the station had received about a dozen e-mails about Rather, and most were critical of the news anchor. General manager Bill Applegate received numerous emails about Rather, too, said a station spokeswoman.
Doerr was attending network meetings in New York on Friday and spoke to Rather. "I think he's handling it with a lot of class and a lot of dignity," Doerr said.
Station managers are, in effect, Rather's constituency, and several said they're eager to see what Dick Thornburgh, former U.S. attorney general, and Louis Boccardi, former Associated Press chief executive, turn up in their probe of CBS News.
The e-mail campaign appears to originate from a blogger on the Web site, Rathergate.com, who is forwarding e-mails to stations around the country.
"The buck has to stop," said Mike Krempasky of Falls Church, Va., who works for a political advertising company and set up Rathergate.com.
"He's certainly the face of the story," Krempasky said. "He's the one who sneered at anyone who dared criticize him on the story for 10 days. He's the one who put his credibility on the line when he said he believed in the story."
Meanwhile, Rather would not comment Thursday on a story in The New York Times, quoting sources that requested anonymity, that he was unhappy that Thornburgh was appointed as half of the two-man panel investigating CBS News. Thornburgh is a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and was attorney general for the Reagan and first Bush administrations.
A Rather spokeswoman said the veteran anchor will cooperate fully in the probe.
In the same Times story, Rather was quoted as pointing out that his boss, CBS News President Andrew Heyward, was fully involved with him in the handling of the story.
In southeastern Virginia, WNIS, a news-talk radio station, dumped CBS News because of listener outrage over Rather's "60 Minutes" report, aired Sept. 8, questioning the president's Guard service.
"We had so much outcry from our listeners. They were calling and complaining and saying they wouldn't listen to a CBS newscast anymore," said Lisa Sinclair, general manager of Sinclair Communications, which owns WNIS and four other stations in the Norfolk area, home to the world's largest naval base.
"This is a conservative market, and people felt that CBS was exhibiting a great deal of liberal bias and lost credibility with this situation."
Plain Dealer reporter Julie E. Washington contributed to this report.
© 2004 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
I've received no reply but I don't expect one since the station is owned and operated by CBS/Viacom.
I received a response from my email to my local CBS station as well. They basically are trying to distance themselves like crazy.
Even if, this is a big if, even if Rather was an unbiased journalist there really needs to be some cut off point for these people. 65 years old is a good number to pass the baton to so many younger worthy potentials waiting in the wings. It's wrong for these octagenarians to HOG the few available positions. Besides, as witnessed with Dan Rather, when they are there for decades (more than 4) they become too jaded, corruptable, biased and all the other obvious reasons.
Why is everything a campaign to these guys when they get criticism? Can they not imagine that many people might just find the use of forged documents a tad bid offensive and that they would write to let them know.
I wrote to my local CBS affiliate and told them I would never watch them as long as Dan Rather was on the national news. I'm sure many other people did the same thing seperate from any "campaign" style action.
I received a reply from channel 2 in Chicago. It follows:
'Thanks for your email regarding Dan Rather and CBS Network News. You may register your concerns by calling....212-975-4321..."
I wrote back telling them that this was unacceptable and I would no longer watch their local and national news. No reply to that though.
In other words, it's a vast right-wing conspiracy.
Doerr was attending network meetings in New York on Friday and spoke to Rather. "I think he's handling it with a lot of class and a lot of dignity," Doerr said.
Screw his "class and dignity." He certainly didn't show any "class and dignity" when he put those memos on the air.
Meanwhile, Rather would not comment Thursday on a story in The New York Times, quoting sources that requested anonymity, that he was unhappy that Thornburgh was appointed as half of the two-man panel investigating CBS News.
Yeah, he's unhappy that Thornburgh might actually be a real investigator, instead of an IINO (investigator in name only).
In the same Times story, Rather was quoted as pointing out that his boss, CBS News President Andrew Heyward, was fully involved with him in the handling of the story.
Is he trying to implicate Heyward here in the airing of the memos, or is talking about the fallout?
"Why is everything a campaign to these guys when they get criticism?"
Because the old liberal media guard has never experienced anything like the nanno second responses the internet has given the masses. They have never had to deal with critism before the internet because they had complete control of communication. Communication = knowledge IS very powerful.
{{{{ Ping }}}}
Hey Stein - looks like your email campaign is working great!
"Doerr was attending network meetings in New York on Friday and spoke to Rather. "I think he's handling it with a lot of class and a lot of dignity," Doerr said"
I guess stonewalling, being antagonistic and attacking the people who raised concerns qualifies as "class" and "dignity" with these people. That tells me all I need to know about Doerr!
I sent email to our local CBS ourlet last week. No reply yet.
But FAXES, those have to be physically gone through and dumped out. Unfortunately, most people are too lazy to fax, and their voices become that much easier to "delete."
I sent an email, and forwared the site to several friends who did the same.
I think low ratings is what will reall get their attention, though.
I've email KPHO-TV in Phoenix twice and have yet to receive a reply.
Danny boy got rid of his rivals and potential successors. I hive can only have one queen bee.
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