Posted on 01/28/2006 1:41:55 PM PST by WestTexasWend
*Fielding preselected audience questions, the former anchor analyzes today's news. Memogate emerges only obliquely.*
If there were any hard questions for Dan Rather, the former anchor and managing editor for CBS Evening News, they would have to wait.
(snip)
What journalism needs, Rather told the audience, is more: more backbone in questioning powerful leaders, more facts (and less speculation), more money and time from publishers, and more international coverage. Journalists, he said, must recognize that they have a duty and reconnect with their role in a system of checks and balances. "American journalism needs a spine transplant and we need it quickly," he said.
Rather cited the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck," observing that CBS news legend Edward R. Murrow was fearless but "couldn't have done it without help from the top. Great journalism begins with a publisher who has guts." The public should also make its voice heard by contacting leaders and publishers, he said.
But he sidestepped the topic of Memogate, the Internet-sparked challenge to the authenticity of documents used on "60 Minutes II" to support a 2004 segment on President Bush's military service. Questions about the story eventually forced out a CBS News producer and three other executives before Rather himself resigned.
(snip)
Obliquely referring to Rather's troubles, one member asked what role bloggers had played in his career. "Their influence was less than perceived," he said, equally obliquely. Some bloggers, he said, have found blogging to be "a good way to further a particular political agenda. It's not a crime," he said. But the public should recognize "there's a new opportunity here to manipulate public opinion."
Some in the audience wanted his opinion of Bush, to which he repeatedly responded that the president still has three more years to "turn around."
(Excerpt) Read more at calendarlive.com ...
Dan, you're Buckhead's bitch. Deal with it.
LoL!
"...wanted his opinion of Bush, to which he repeatedly responded that the president still has three more years to 'turn around.'"
Why? So you can stab him in the back yet again, you sad, old, pathetic commie?
"More facts and less speculation?" Rather is a comedian.
Allow me to make a correction.
What journalism needs, Rather told the audience, is more: more backbone Fonts in questioning powerful leaders......
Yes, the old opportunity being the way the three networks manipulated public opinion for 40 years. Those days are over, Dan. We're not taking your crap anymore. Oh yeah, what's the frequency?
Yeah Dan, the 'old opportunities to manipulate public opinion' were much better, huh? Could this be because you and your ilk were the commisars of manipulation? Pine away, Dan, but the train has left the station, and you are not on it, and history will not be kind to you sir, no, not at all.
L O L
Love it when the press reports on itself.....
I'm surprised to see Rather's resignation attributed to the Memogate scandal in such a direct, unambiguous manner; and published in the liberal LA Times no less. It appears that Rather's tarnished legacy is beginning to set up like concrete around him.
"What's the frequency?" is the caption under Rather's picture at the source page. Pretty funny.
Yes, we saw a lot of that from Dan with Clinton "If we're one hundredth as successful as you..."
What an arrogant blow hard.
He oughta know. He's given enough free passes to the demoncRATS.
That's when any scintilla of credibility is completely lost forever - citing movies...
When the Swiftboat vets stood up to Kerry and when freepers stood up to CBS, how come Rather cried like a little girl about it, when they were following his advice?
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