Posted on 11/26/2004 1:46:41 AM PST by Quilla
Dan Rather, who has announced his "retirement" next March from the anchor desk he has held for 24 years, is a dinosaur. After the last of the old news anchors leaves his chair (Peter Jennings will be the final one sitting), Rather, Tom Brokaw and Jennings will be fossils. There will not be their like again.
Rather earned his stripes and paid his dues during a career that has spanned four decades at CBS and as a wire-service reporter before that. He is a man who loves his country. Recall his emotional breakdown on the "Late Show With David Letterman" following 9/11. Rather said he would go and fight the terrorists if the president asked him. Some thought his performance strange, even grandstanding. I thought he meant it.
While Rather is 73 and could have been expected to retire soon (his predecessor, Walter Cronkite, was forced out at age 65), the controversy over faked National Guard documents purporting to show George W. Bush failed to fulfill his military obligations appeared to give CBS management the excuse it needed to make a change. Rather, who helped bring down Richard Nixon, was himself brought down by a gross inaccuracy and a type of stonewalling reminiscent of the president he tormented.
It doesn't matter who replaces Rather. Everyone at that level of broadcast journalism has been ideologically vetted. No one who is a conservative is allowed to ascend to the top of major news organizations. If you disagree, try naming one. Despite plummeting ratings and numerous surveys that have shown large numbers of people believe the major networks approach the things conservatives care about with a bias, even hostility, network executives refuse to acknowledge those feelings and continue to present the news through the filter of their leftist ideological worldview.
Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center and a frequent critic of Rather, observed: "Mr. Rather's bias is part of an institutional problem throughout the national 'news' media - identified by former longtime CBS News correspondent Bernard Goldberg - which is the arrogant notion that their point of view is always accurate and always relevant to any story in which they choose to inject it."
More proof that nothing changes at the networks is the appointment of Jonathan Klein as president of CNN. Klein was executive vice president of CBS News. He praised the "60 Minutes" producer, Mary Mapes, who received and vouched for the forged National Guard documents from a well-known Bush-hater. Klein called Mapes "absolutely peerless . . . in the profession. She is a crack journalist."
Klein also blasted Internet bloggers for exposing the forged documents and CBS's error in standing behind them. He stereotyped a blogger as "a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing what he thinks." The bloggers did a better job than CBS news anchors and producers, who sit around in their expensive suits telling us what they think. Klein carries his biases from CBS to CNN.
The "60 Minutes" curmudgeon, Andy Rooney, has been making a bigger fool of himself lately by calling conservative Christians uneducated and ignorant. When the sports commentator Jimmy "the Greek" Snyder disparaged blacks in 1988, Dan Rather aired video of the remarks, which led to Snyder's firing by CBS management. That Rooney still holds his job after stereotyping and disparaging Christians sends a message of bias, even bigotry, to a substantial audience that CBS has mostly lost and obviously does not care if it wins back.
CBS's eye logo is an appropriate metaphor for what ails the network. "There is none so blind as they that won't see," wrote Jonathan Swift. Notice he didn't say "can't see," but "won't see."
CBS is not blind, but it deliberately closes its eyes to the institutional bias that substantial numbers of Americans can see quite clearly. Unlike the period during which anchors dominated the national news stage, people now have choices. They are choosing cable, especially Fox News Channel, in growing numbers.
If CBS continues in denial - and it will - its evening news ratings, which have been in third place for several years, will suffer further decline. It didn't have to be this way for Dan Rather or for the once great CBS. He should have learned from Richard Nixon that cover-up and stonewalling can come back to haunt you
"It doesn't matter who replaces Rather. Everyone at that level of broadcast journalism has been ideologically vetted. No one who is a conservative is allowed to ascend to the top of major news organizations. If you disagree, try naming one. Despite plummeting ratings and numerous surveys that have shown large numbers of people believe the major networks approach the things conservatives care about with a bias, even hostility, network executives refuse to acknowledge those feelings and continue to present the news through the filter of their leftist ideological worldview."
And Rather will STILL be doing stories for CBS and 60 minutes.
And STILL be running things in the background.
Big deal, America won't see him on camera as much
BUT they will see his lies about the Bush White House and the military.
And NEVER FORGET Rather's PREVIOUS attacks on Viet Nam Vets
over the years.
Personally I don't bother to watch any national news anymore.
ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, NY Times
refused to ever ask Hanoi Kerry why he never signed Form 180
ABC, AP, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, NBC, NY Times
refuse to call for Hanoi Kerry to be impeached from the US SEnate
So I refuse to watch or read them.
Free Republic, where you get the REAL stories that the media refuses to carry!
My second most favorite story of the campaign (first most favorite was BUSH WINS RE-ELECTION!!!!) and of course, it was a close tie with the Swifties BUT as some columnist (Steyn?) said, I love this story, I want to hug it and squeeze it and call it George. I did one year of journalism grad school before going into law (don't ask) and loved that our Buckhead was on the cutting edge and could watch the story unfold. It was a beautiful thing. I believe it was worth a few thousand votes or at least a few stay at home potential Kerry voters. I also believe it will still be reverberating during the next several election cycles. Never again will the MSM be able to claim a monopoly on the news. Whereas we only had Drudge during the Clinton years and the MSM almost succeeded it marginalizing him, we now have thousand of Drudges and a lot of people who are much better and much more credible. In a 24 hour cycle, experts on all sorts of things can be accessed. Did I mention I had had a forgery issue in a case and had analyzed who is and is not a real expert. With a little effort, I could have found and emailed my expert but didn't need to because the job was done by my fellow freepers. Freepers rule. In the nineties we only had Rush, now we have a dozen other talk radio hosts including some awesome women. I love it that Condi is probably going to appoint a conservative woman as her assistant. And it goes on and on. Thank you all.
Thanks for the ping Tonk, My source for news and commentary is here on Free Republic. Happy Thanksgiving to you & yours brother!
Cal Thomas bump!!
BTTT!!!!!!
"Maybe Rather used to love America, but he sure doesn't now."
He "loved" it as much as Hanoi Kerry
Both have, over decades, lied about Viet Nam Vets
Almost what is going on today with the youth .. just change the names to Rather, Moore, etc.
Cal Thomas tells it like it is!
Walter was an angry leftist as an anchor. After retirement, he became a certifiable MADMAN.
Good post, Quilla:
The Tall One from Texas nails the topic and nails it hard!
I've been leary of and haven't liked Dan Rather's (or Browkaw, or Jennings) style since seeing all three of them seperately giving incredinly similar "Gloom-And-Doom" reports before the same burning wreckage of a C-130 at Khe Sahn in 1968.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Revenge IS a dish best served cold!
Jack.
IOW, conspirators of the American Politburo...
Susan Smith also claimed she loved her chidren before & after she murdered them.
clever tagline!
Have you listen to Rather lately?
He's well on his way
A "major" network gets away with pure intentional untruthfulness in the democratic election process and new leadership comes in praising those involved. Does Viacom have a board of directors?
Gotta love Cal
BTTT
This is what we call "evolution in action"
These imbeciles do not want to adapt. That is the classic cause of extinction in the 500 million year history of evolution. Adapt or die.
I guess they have picked extintion.
Pity.
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