Posted on 11/23/2004 7:26:16 PM PST by CHARLITE
As one of my good friends so kindly reminded me, CBS’s decision to dump Dan Rather from his throne at the Evening News is too little, and it comes way too late!
It’s not personal, I don’t even know Dan Rather. It isn’t even political, it’s much bigger than any individual politician or even any particular political party. It’s about something much more important than Dan, CBS’s ratings, a single election, or anyone’s individual political ideology.
Partisans on all sides debate among other things, who has control of America. Some think it’s the federal government, others think it is corporations and their lobbyists, many think it is Union bosses and trial lawyers, and yet others think it is the UN or the Illuminati…
They are all wrong! As the Democratic Party is still trying to decipher and understand, the American people control America, as was just proven in the 2004 election. Against enormous odds of huge financial and media support for Kerry, the people voted against those who thought money alone could win the highest seat in the land.
However, who controls the American voter?
The most powerful single entity in America is the massive institution known as the mainstream press. Whoever controls public opinion, controls those who control America. In America, that is the mainstream press.
We have laws, even Constitutional Amendments that guarantee a free press, able to report anything they want, in opposition to even the highest office in the land, at odds with the entire government if they wish, without risk of repudiation or revenge. The mainstream press is exempt from responsibilities that even our politicians must adhere to, making the press the most powerful institution in our land.
But what happens when that power is abused, the way it was when Dan Rather and CBS attempted to interfere with the 2004 election by running with a hatchet job story against a sitting President, using bogus forged government documents in an attempt to mislead the American voter into removing that President from office?
Our entire system of self-governance is at risk of collapse, that’s what. If any member of the press can print anything they want, without regard for truth, even if presented in a “balanced” fashion, then the people who control America will make decisions based on bogus information, and bogus information will lead to bad decisions almost every time.
In 2004, the effort failed, in great part due to the advent of the Internet, (special thanks to Al Gore). As Rather put it, hundreds of part-time Internet sleuths, at their computers in their underwear, quickly unraveled the bogus story hours after Rather aired his coup attempt on 60 Minutes.
Had this happened anywhere but America, Rather would have lost his job on the spot, been investigated for his role in the forging of government documents, and most likely, ended up in prison.
In some parts of the world, he would have been dragged from his throne by his hair, stoned to death in the streets and set afire. If he had behaved this way with his old friend Saddam Hussein, he would have had his eye’s gouged out, his fingers cut off, and his tongue ripped out by a log chain tied to the back bumper of Qusay’s Hummer.
But in America, the revelation that Rather attempted to single handedly take down a sitting President with a bogus news story met with a collective yawn from an electorate that has become too accustomed to bogus left-wing anti-American reporting from the mainstream press.
Many still think this incident is an isolated accident, even though Brokaw responded with concern for how the White House was trying to smear Dan Rather, and Jennings doesn’t think Rather should be held to account by all those horrible bloggers that seem to have it out for Dan.
The bottom line is this, the American people, not just conservatives, not just liberals, all American’s have a Right to expect truthful unfiltered and unbiased reporting of just the fact as they exist, not as someone wants to invent them. The American media has an obligation to deliver just that, nothing more and nothing less.
When they breach this trust with the public, heads should roll, and in the case of CBS, they didn’t.
Even now, this maneuver dethroning Rather is limited to taking him from the nightly Evening News only, leaving him with full employment and in a position to continue delivering less than honest reports via both 60 Minutes programs, which is where the problem began.
That just is not good enough! It is too little too late, and in no way improves the viability of CBS as a reliable source of information.
The time for this type of maneuver has passed. Nothing short of full retirement for Rather will be good enough, and that still leaves Producer Mary Mapes, who fielded the bogus story, and the rest of the 60 Minutes II staff to deal with.
No sir, not good enough at all!
CBS was finally forced to launch its own internal investigation into Rathergate to avoid an outside investigation. That investigation has been underway for two months now, as if we all don’t already know what happened, and still there is no report of how such a thing could happen. That means, the investigation is likely to continue until they find a way to excuse the act, or sweep it under the rug once the American people have forgotten all about it and moved on to other things.
Not good enough, not by a long shot. If CBS can’t do better than this, I’m afraid we simply have no use for CBS. If CBS wants to continue to protect Dan Rather and Mary Mapes, they will have to do it all the way to their corporate grave. Not good enough indeed!!!
Comments:jbw@jb-williams.com
Licorice: "Licorice reporting for duty.
My Savior, Sen. Kerry and the Widow Heinz have informed me
that CBS has decided to coverup their fraud, and let Rather
continue his DNC forgeries and meddling with federal elections.
We all laugh all night long because Dan Rather was planning
to leave his anchor desk this Spring, anyway. CBS rocks for DNC."
What dumping are you talking about? Dan Rather announced his retirement about 6 months ago.
Screw the MSM. Boycott them all.
Mapes is still employed, and will still be around causing trouble after Rather is gone.
Mapes is a radical liberal whose career should be monitered carefully by conservatives.
While I agree with many of the writer's conclusions, he is a bit behind the curve. Millions of us recognized by at least 1992 that the MSM was abusing its power. That view was validated nationally in 2000, and by 2004, the power of the OLD MAID MEDIA was checkmated.
Hell, I haven't watched an old media newscast for years.
From article: "Our entire system of self-governance is at risk of collapse, that’s what. If any member of the press can print anything they want, without regard for truth, even if presented in a “balanced” fashion, then the people who control America will make decisions based on bogus information, and bogus information will lead to bad decisions almost every time. "
This is so true -
And the press is in bed with government - that is not good either - too many people are related - or worked under someone in government - bias is everywhere -
The people of this nation should seek to have a media that has no connection whatsoever to government -
The media should be a source of news - not one where they form a point of view and put that out -
Between Hollywood, an extremely corrupt government, and the old major media - this country(the American people) is getting screwed big time -
leave dan and mary mapes so all cbs news will be suspect
If they really wanted to save it, they would have a symbolic head-rolling, and they are obviously not doing that. For now, the "newsies" are staving off the "money changers." But in the long run, the money changers always win. |
THE MAJOR SUPPORTERS OF C(BS) and its ELECTION-INFLUENCING LIES
Allegra (Aventis Pharmaceuticals)
Campbells Soup
Kleenex
ADDITIONAL SUPPORTERS OF C(BS) and its ELECTION-INFLUENCING LIES
Cingular Wireless
Estee Lauder
Home Depot
Infiniti Automobiles
Kia Automobiles
Lowes [new Rather sponsor]
Morgan Stanley
Pepcid Complete
Splenda (Low carb sugar substitute)
Sprint PCS
Toyota [new Rather sponsor]
UPS Store
Vioxx (Merck)
Wellbutrin-xl (Glaxo Smith Klein) [new Rather sponsor]
Zelnorm (IBS medication)
Ziploc
Fabulous graphic. Unbelievably creative. Thanks for posting such a fine piece of work. It's fascinating. I've been sitting here going through the whole message several times. Very unique. I never saw anything like it before.
Thanks again,
Char
making CBS News a financially unsustainable proposition.
The news dept. has been losing money for years. They don't
care. I say either criminal charges or FCC complaints.
As the article above, "Not Good Enough", so eloquently and rationally states, the press is the most powerful institution in the US, and CBS has abused that power in the most dangerous and sleazy fashion.
We can't just shrug this off or make jokes about it. It's too serious.
I do think Rather and Mapes and probably some other staffers should be terminated.
But, we also should get the full truth about what happened. Who forged the documents? Who knew about the forgeries and when? EVERYTHING. They owe that to the American people.
Boycotting them and their sponsors would help, but it isn't enough. Even if they flop financially, the power they have will mostly remain and is, by itself, worth alot.
I agree with "old browser", criminal charges and/or FCC complaints and sanctions. Together with the firings, full disclosure and the boycotts.
CBS HAS INSULTED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
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I think we may safely cool our jets on this. It appears from the ratings that the market is taking care of this problem... by making CBS News a financially unsustainable proposition.