Posted on 03/11/2005 3:29:14 AM PST by The Great Yazoo
Ordinarily, the retirement of a TV newsman would be something to be more or less passed over in silence by friend and foe alike. But the retirement of Dan Rather as anchorman of CBS news has caused so much spin in the media that some of this spin may become "well-known facts" by sheer repetition unless challenged by real facts.
One popular spin is that it is a shame that a long and distinguished career should be judged by one unfortunate error like the forged documents that Rather relied on to question President Bush's National Guard service.
Those who believe this might dig into the records of the CBS News broadcast of March 27, 1991, when Dan Rather said: "A startling number of American children are in danger of starving" because "one out of eight American children is going hungry tonight."
This was a crock -- but it was a fashionable crock on the left at that time and Dan Rather not only echoed but amplified a ridiculous "study" done by leftist activists. He probably didn't set out to tell a lie then any more than he did when he relied on forged documents to try to "get" President Bush on the eve of last year's election.
Neither were either of these or other cases simply a matter of a zealous reporter trying hard to get a story. It was bias -- and bias has long been the besetting sin of the mainstream media. That is why Dan Rather's scandal is bigger than Dan Rather and will justifiably continue to taint much of the media after his recent retirement as CBS anchorman.
If it was just a matter of Dan Rather's zeal for a story letting him get carried away -- another popular spin -- then why was this zeal for digging into what George W. Bush did or didn't do three decades earlier in the Texas National Guard not matched by an equal zeal to dig into John Kerry's military record?
After all, Kerry himself made his military record the centerpiece of his election campaign. We weren't supposed to question his two decades of undermining the military and intelligence services because he was a war hero.
With more than a hundred men who served with Kerry in Vietnam challenging his version of what he did there, why no zeal to dig into that story?
With the honorable discharge on Kerry's own web site dated during the Carter administration, years after his service ended, why no zeal to find out if this was one of the less than honorable discharges retroactively raised to the status of "honorable" under Jimmy Carter's amnesty programs? Wouldn't that be quite a story?
Zeal is not bias and bias is not zeal, regardless of what spin is being put out in the media about Dan Rather.
At one time, when the big three broadcast networks had a virtual monopoly, their spin became "facts" for all practical purposes. The way Dan Rather and CBS News tried to stonewall and brazen out the forged document scandal suggests that they didn't realize the extent to which their monopoly was gone.
With talk radio, Fox News, and the Internet reaching tens of millions of people, no longer could a TV anchorman say "That's the way it is," as Walter Cronkite used to say, and have that be taken as the last word.
What is perhaps most revealing about Dan Rather is that his defenders are mostly outside of CBS News, and such CBS News heavyweights as Mike Wallace and Walter Cronkite have recently spoken disparagingly of him in public. Mike Wallace referred to Rather's "contrived" performances.
"Contrived" is a polite word for phony.
Although Rather is through as anchorman, what he represents is not through, and that is what makes it important to be clear about what he was and what he did, regardless of the spin of those seeking to make excuses for him. We the public need to recognize what is and is not a fact and the media need to recognize the bias and arrogance in Rather's work -- and in their own.
One hopeful sign of changes in recent times is that even liberal media outlets have begun to see a need to have a few token moderate or conservative voices. It's not much but it's a move in the right direction. So is the departure of Dan Rather.
©2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
This is the essence of the bias that has driven a knife through the MSM heart.................RIP!
Again, I admire and respect Dr. Sowell.
There are many that believe that the Rathers of this world are simply misguided. That they trip over themselves from time to time and in reality have no malicious intent.
I do not.
The majority of the Democrat Party, along with many in the Republican Party and their enablers, are on a course deliberately intent on the destruction of the United States as it was given us by the Founding Fathers.
It is no accident that the Supreme Court has developed into a rogue Europian (from Europa) body.
It is no simple difference of opinion that drives federal courts to usurpt the powers of legislators when they (the courts) enact defacto legislation.
It is by design.
Excuse me?
Right now RW "Johnny" Apple of the New York Times is on Imus.
These "real journalists" kill me with their teeny and selective memories.
The fool just told Imus that Rather was only a news reader (thereby excusing the faked documents with that dismissive pronouncement) and while Apple admitted Rather may have not liked this President Bush, he thinks he likes the other President Bush.
Imus was naturally not swift enough to recall the Rather/Bush 41 exchange on Iran/Contra which, as just one glaring example I immediately remembered, demonstrates Apple is just plain wrong (no surprise for a Times "reporter").
I completely agree. We've all noticed this distressing tendency of the pundit class. For all of our good they need to take a full and frank measure of who we are dealing with here and start calling a spade a spade.
"Contrived" is a polite word for phony.
Rather is a phony through and through. His fake tears while reciting the vague and almost forgotten verses of "America the Beautiful" on Letterman was over the top.
I remember very clearly when I first encountered Dr. Sowell. He was part of the discussion panel that took place after each installment of Milton Friedman's series "Free to Choose" which aired circa 1980. Sowell was brilliant. I wish I could remember who else was on the panel? I'm certain there was a lefty economist professor type as well.
The left in this country has been trying its best to ignore Dr. Sowell for decades, ever since he effectively demonstrated the direct relationship between increases in the minimum wage and increased unemployment among black youth. If they had to confront him he'd eat them alive. Plus, the very last thing they can afford is a demonstration of the intellectual power of a man like Dr. Sowell, who is brilliant, conservative, and black.
"Knowledge and Decisions" is my favorite Sowell text. I'm always looking for his books in the used book store or library sale. There's a standing reward for any of my kids that finds one!
Sowell bump.
I haven't read either "Knowledge and Decisions" or "Cultures and Conquests." I think I'll skip over to the local public library link...
I haven't made it through "Conquests and Cultures" yet. I keep checking it out and taking it back :-). "Knowledge and Decisions" took me 4 months, but the library let me keep renewing it.
Like you, I am not one of those people. I believe that Dan Rather's bias is not a case of him just making an occasional error. If nothing else, the fact that these "errors" always seem to occur to the detriment of a conservative or Republican, I think, proves that point. But I don't think Dr. Sowell is one of those who believe Dan Rather and his ilk are "simply misguided" either. It seems that some of us are just reading that line in the Sowell essay differently.
ThankYou for providing me with a WEALTH of reading material!!
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