Posted on 05/23/2005 8:06:04 AM PDT by Matchett-PI
Tracking Liberal Media Bias Since 1996 10:25am EDT, Monday May 23, 2005 (Vol. Ten; No. 91)
Interviewed by Tina Brown in a session aired Sunday night on CNBC, Dan Rather praised Mary Mapes, the producer of the 60 Minutes story based on forged memos, as "a very good pro," and insisted that "she's the kind of professional that the audience should want in television."
Asked by Brown if "after the flap over the National Guard story, do you feel inhibited?", Rather contended he's never "inhibited when it comes to news and trying to do fair-minded, accurate reporting on important stories."
Then Brown wanted to know: "What are the realistic chances that you're going to be able to do a story that really shakes and rattles the Bush administration?"
Rather maintained they are "excellent" since "CBS News has a culture, has a history that those of us who work here, it's very real -- that we see it as a sort of magical mystical kingdom of journalistic knights."
Rather appeared Sunday night in a taped interview on CNBC's Topic [A] with Tina Brown, a show that has been cancelled by the network.
Brown spent most of her time with Rather commiserating with him about how, the wake of the cancellation of 60 Minutes Wednesday, news can survive on broadcast network television when it must produce good ratings and proper demographics.
Brown treated Rather as a victim, rather than a perpetrator of a journalistic fraud, and worried not about fixing CBS News but whether CBS and Rather may be "inhibited" now from taking on the Bush administration.
In these two exchanges Rather praised May Mapes and showed he's still capable of delivering one of his trademark Ratherisms in gushing about the glories of CBS News:
Brown: "Now, when you got the Peabody Award, you were up there on stage with Mary Mapes, the producer who produced both the Abu Ghraib segment and, of course, the National Guard segment, which in a sense, you know, obviously wounded your career so tremendously. How was it for you to be up there with Mary Mapes receiving that award also knowing that in a way much of what she contributed to ended your time there very sadly?"
Rather: "Well, without addressing the core premise of the question, Mary deserved to be there, the Abu Ghraib story was an important story, Mary was key in developing the story. All of us worked hard on it, but Mary was key. And she deserved to be on the stage. Mary's a very good pro. She's the kind of professional that the audience should want in television. And having said that, that's the way I felt. And I was glad she was there."
Brown: "What is the chance that management in sense will allow you now to go off and do major investigative story that takes on the administration? I mean, after the flap over the National Guard story, do you feel inhibited?"
Rather: "No, no. being inhibited when it comes to news and trying to do fair-minded, accurate reporting on important stories, being inhibited about that is not in my nature. And widely believed it may not be, but true it is, that I don't feel any pressure not do such stories."
Brown: "Let's be realistic though. If you're going back now to work, I gather, on 60 Minutes 1, you're going back to re-join that show, what are the realistic chances that you're going to be able to do a story that really shakes and rattles the Bush administration?"
Rather: "Excellent. The Bush administration, the Democratic leadership or any future Democratic Presidents. CBS News has a culture, has a history that those of us who work here, it's very real -- that we see it as a sort of magical mystical kingdom of journalistic knights -- and I know I can mentally hear people rolling their eyes, that's the way we feel."
Quite telepathic.
As are most in the MSM
Yeah. Like Rather he has become an irrelevant "nobody" - except for the fact that both of them are responsible for new slang words in the dictionary:
"Clymer" = slang for "Big Time A$$hole", and "Dan Rather" = slang for "Rathergate". LOL
Where is this guy nowadays, anyhow?
But that's not "his truth". Like all the mentally and emotionally disturbed, "his reality" will only ever be what he wants it to be. He isn't emotionally equipped to face reality.
As Rush says, "It takes courage to face the truth."
'fair-minded, accurate reporting'
When did he do that? I must have missed it.
And we all know what happened to him. LOL
Exactly. See #45.
More like the knights of Scam-a-lot.
Funny but when I think of the MSM I tend to think more in terms of a brothel full of journalistic whores pulling a night shift than a castle full of journalistic knights.
Master Yoda Rather speaks...
I guess Dan really is on crack. Talk about delusions of grandeur.
And Rush is correct
lol
For some odd reason, I instantly thought of the knights who say ni (shudders)
If you hadn't posted this, I would have. 8P
The whole problem with MSM reporting the past decades is that they don't identify which ideology each anecdotal story supports. That gives the style an odor of propaganda.
"that we see it as a sort of magical mystical kingdom of journalistic knights"
Too bad it is the rest of the world that isn't watching.
LOL!! bttt
Abu Ghraib was NOT an important story. Tailhook was NOT an important story. The Koran-in-the-toilet story was NOT an important story. Of course, if you are an anti-American, anti-military ideologue these may be important to you and your soulmates. The Malmedy affair in WWII was an important story. The starvation of the Ukraine was an important story (even if The Times didn't think so).
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